Unexpected Romance
by eagle eyes98
Summary: The fire nation has won the war and Aang is on the run, but what this scenario causes is unbelievable.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer – I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender**

"Why does it take so long to find one boy" Ozai snaps at his daughter.

"Because he's just one boy and he can fly anywhere he wants at a moment's notice" Azula grumbles.

"You dare take that tone with me?"

"Sorry father"

Ozai has tasked her with finding the Avatar after he fled when he wasn't able to bend the energy of the Phoenix King. It has been 5 years since he was last seen at the encounter. Azula is growing bored; there would be reports of him in a village but the next day he would be long gone.

Ozai is growing impatient as he will never admit to anyone that is living in fear that the avatar will show up in his room at night to take his life like he could have years ago.

"And why didn't you kill your brother, Zuko, when you had the chance"

"When I finally got a hold on the water tribe peasant, I looked up and he was gone. I had no idea Zuko would run, but be foolish enough to try and help her try and break out from the Boiling Rock."

"I suppose that is a reasonable excuse," Ozai proclaims.

"Trust me father, it shall not be one I make again," Azula says with confidence.

"Good, now go continue your search for the Avatar. I have received reports of him in cave system not too far from Bae Sing Sae"

"Yes father," Azula exits the room and boards a ship.

Ooooooooooooooo

Aang has taken refuge in a cave system with Toph who he has found along his travels in Ba Sing Sae, with her; he has been able to navigate tunnels and stay hidden from the fire nation. He tries to formulate a plan on how he can free his friends from the prisons in which they were sent. He knows that Suki has escaped and went into hiding with Ty Lee, still loyal to the Kyoshi Warriors, near the fire nation colonies. He wants to try and find them but he knows it is too risky to make an attempt.

"Hey, Twinkletoes" Toph says ignoring the unusual silence of Aang.

"What Toph, can't you see I'm meditating," Aang snaps

"Actually, no I can't" she says with a thought of stupidity toward her companion.

"Sometimes I forget that you are blind, you know; you being able to see down here and all"

"Yeah, yeah, get over it"

"What was it you needed?"

"I'm starving" she states as her stomach groans.

'Ok, I will see if I can find something out in the jungle"

Aang heads toward a light that takes him out of the caves, but he immediately ducks as he sees his pursuer, Azula, scouting the jungle with troops. Aang couldn't deny how beautiful she had grown to be, she was now a women with easily identifiable curves. He stares just a moment before running back into the cave to find Toph whistling the usual tune indicating that she is bored.

"We have to go now!" Aang says with a frightened look.

"What did the spirits tell you something?" She says sarcastically

"Azula is outside and I suspect that she just might and came have a look down here, so I'll say it again; we have to go now."

Just as he suspected, Azula came running down the cave with a sapphire flame in hand. He tries to hide but it is of no use. When she finds him, she just stares.

Finally come out of her mouth," My my, what do we have here."

_The years have done him well, he has is grown tall and his muscles are very exercised thanks to the practice in bending, _She thinks to herself.

"Princess, I was not expecting you" Aang says as he can't help but stare at her.

Azula smirks, "Like what you see?"

Aang's face grows red with embarrassment.

"We need to stay and fight, we can take em'"

"Sometimes your natural instinct will lead you into circumstances that you can't handle Toph" Aang says with urgency.

"You should listen to her, Avatar, she has the heart of a warrior. All you have ever done is run."

Aang is filled with anger, but before he can think of anything to do a sapphire fireball goes whizzing by his head. He jumps and Toph tries to help by bumping the back of Azula's foot, but hits Aang's instead. Aang stumbles toward Azula, falling on top of her; they both stare for a moment catching their breath and then Aang disappears into the darkness.

"Which way should we go?" Toph asks hurryingly

"Take us toward Nozomi no Nai" Aang feels cold as he names the city that was formerly called Bae Sing Sae.

"Are you sure we should head towards the city occupied by a nation that wants you dead?"

"Trust me, Toph; I know what I have to do"

"Why did they give Bae Sing Sae that name anyway?"

"Because it means 'No Hope'"

Toph leads them down a maze of caverns until they exit the caves and they then start making their way toward the colonies as Aang thinks he has a plan.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Zuko stares at the ceiling and wonders just why he wasn't killed that day, Katara sees this and tries comfort him. It is a coincidence that their cells are next to each other.

"The more you think about it, the more you are going to wonder" Katara's motherly side kicks in.

"Its not like we have anything else to do you know" Zuko says with a depressed voice.

"Just trying to help" Katara says with a sigh.

Suddenly the alarm sounds and the prisoners are allowed into the prison yard. As the prisoners exit their cells they torment the guards who sit and react to nothing said. Once outside, Zuko walks around and finds no other than Sokka.

"Sokka, is that you?" Zuko confused as he walks towards him

It has been so long since they had seen him. He is bloody and scarred from beatings by the guards and can barely stand up. He sees Zuko and breathes a sigh of relief. Zuko calls for Katara and brings her to his brother.

"Sokka, what happened to you?" She has a look of horror on her face.

She quickly pulls water out of thin air to heal her brother of the wounds, He aches in pain and tense up when she hits a sore spot, after a while the pain eases and he is able to breathe without pain. Having not seen Sokka in a while, Katara has feared the worst of his fate.

"Nice seeing you two again" His voice still hoarse.

"Where were you?" Katara asked with concern for her brother.

"I hid in the fire nation colonies; I figured that would be the last place that they would check for any of us."

"How is that working for you now," Zuko says sarcastically.

"It was working, Suki and Ty Lee crossed paths with me and we camped around for a few months, they said that they had broken out of prison and figured that they would go where that thought nobody would look, but they had no idea that they had been followed and watched. I stalled while they got away."

Katara looks at the ground imagining the scene.

"Did you ever see Aang" Katara asks worried about her friend.

"Not a trace, he is either dead, or in a fantastic hiding spot."

"What about Toph"

"Same"

"Could things get any worse?" Zuko asked as the alarm rings signaling the call back to their cells.

The war has given the gang a bond that they thought meant that nothing could every separate them; losing it has taken its toll. Not only has the gang been split, but there is now no way for them to find each other unless rumor travels and they hear of them, which is a rare case.

Ooooooooooooo

Aang and Toph decide to stop and get something to eat mostly because Aang can't travel in pure darkness around him in labyrinth of caves. They stop at a market, get some food and travel a little ways off the village and Aang blows into his sky bison whistle; calling Appa. When Appa sets down they load the food into the saddle and eat a little while taking a break from the stress of running

"Do you think that we can ever actually defeat Ozai" Aang asks sincerely

"To be honest, no, but I think that we can keep the Fire Nation busy enough so that someone else can" Toph was always one to be honest

"Who would dare defy the Fire Nation while they have everybody in their grip?"

"Twinkletoes, you may be the Avatar, but others in this world are willing to fight for their freedom, whether they think you exist or not."

When they finish eating, Aang sends Appa up into the air for him to find a hiding place on a cliffside until he blows the whistle once more. Retreating back to the caves didn't seem like such a good idea so Aang decided that they make their way to the colonies through the jungle for a while until they figure it safe to back inside of the caves.

"Why don't we just use Appa?" Toph questions

"He is too easy to spot, the fire nation has outpost everywhere looking for him," Aang answers respectively

"Besides I thought you didn't like flying on Appa, you know where you can't see anything?"

I don't, but it is faster than walking all the way around Nozomi ai blah"

"Nozomi no nai" Aang correted.

Toph wouldn't admit that her feet were getting sore, because she had always had a sort of reputation for having feel of steel.

Oooooooooooo

Azula retreats back to her quarters aboard her ship, she changes into her night gown and lays down tired from looking for the Avatar relentlessly, but she did have one thing to look to; she had actually found him, after 5 years, she found him.

"Would you like me to get anything for you, Princess" one of the guards asked.

"No, now get of here before I incinerate you" she snapped.

And with that, the royal guard exited her quarters.

While thinking about this, she can't help but remember how muscular the Avatar looked, how coiled his muscles had gotten from the constant bending, she looked back at the moment of when he had collapsed onto her; She could feel something inside of her that made her tingly at the thought. She called it anxiety and rolled over into her bed for a good night's rest that never came.

**Author's Note – This is my first story, I hope you like it. Special thanks to sablefalls and LavenderHillLove for the help you guys gave me I really appreciate it, you guys are my inspiration.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Princess, a messenger hawk has delivered a note from fire lord Ozai," the captain hands a slip of paper to Azula.

"He wants a report on the avatar, I wish father would give me a break every once and a while," Azula sighs, "Ah well, it's time to hunt the airbender once again."

"I shall have the troops gathered on the deck and awaiting your orders shortly, princess"

"There will be no need, I shall go alone this time," Azula stretches her legs before walking out the door.

The captain follows, "Princess, it isn't safe to go alone."

"What, you don't think I can take care of myself?" Azula eyes beam upon the captain.

"Of course, Princess, I just thought that it would be better to take so of the men with you," He doesn't dare look her in the eye.

"You thought wrong, now I must be going; wouldn't want the avatar to get away from to get far."

"Very well princess," The captain shakes his head and retreats back to the bridge.

Ooooooooooooooo

"We need to keep going, we can't risk Azula catching up to us" Aang says in a worrying voice as he checks behind them.

"Look, you can keep walking, but I am going to sleep" Toph says with a yawn as an earth tent rises from the ground.

"We can at least wait until it gets dark, it's the middle of the day," it's too late; he can already hear her snoring.

Aang pulls some leave from bushes and trees and put them in his own earth tent, and just as he is about to lay down for so needed rest; Toph's tents disappears and she assumes a fighting stance.

"She's here"

"How did she find us so fast?"

Azula runs through the brush and stares the two benders down. Azula makes the first move sending a sapphire fire ball towards the blind bender thinking she wouldn't see it coming. Toph moves out the way while Aang blows it away with a swing of his staff.

"Did you two really think that you would escape after I had already found you?" Azula tries to intimidate the avatar.

"No, but we could delay having to fight with you" Aang says formally.

"You would only be delaying to the inevitable" A smug look grows across Azula face.

She flings two waves of fire at the the avatar. He jumps over them, and hits the ground with is staff causing a wave of air to blow past her. Toph then tossed a couple boulders as the the princess dodged and weaved. Azula then began float on the ground as she sped across the ground firebending from her feet. Aang hits the ground with his fist causing a ring to of earth to jump, which knocks Azula down. Azula stands up; Toph then traps the princess in an earth cage. Azula tries to break free but it is no use. Aang walks over to her, but has no intent of harming her.

"We could have been friends you know?" Aang tries to negotiate.

"Friends, you realize that my father demands your head everyday?"

"That didn't stop Zuko."

"Oh, Zuzu, my traitorous brother; where is he again, because last I checked he was in a prison along with that water tribe girl and her brother."

Aang is now next to her, "Your spirit is corrupted, it's a shame that it must have been done by your father."

"My father would never do anything to harm me."

"Are you sure, Azula, once he has what he wants; what do you think will happen to you."

"I will become fire lord of course"

"Is that what he told you, or is that what you know?"

Aang lets the words sink in for a moment before starting to walk away. Toph has left to scout and see if there is anybody else following them.

"Why do you care anyway, Avatar," Azula snaps at him.

"Princess, I've always cared, never have I not cared about anybody."

Aang walks away while the words hit, Azula is left to think, but shortly after Aang leaves, the cage disappears and she returns to the ship.

"Princess, is something wrong?" the captain has just come out for a break

"No, what would make you say that?" this has put Azula on the deffenive.

"Nothing princess, it just that its still moring daylight and you have already returned from your search."

"Well I found them, Azula begins to walk away"

"Good, I'm sure that our Phoenix King will want a report, what happened?"

"I was spared," Azula allows before slamming to door to her quarters.

Oooooooooooooooooo

As he looks for Toph, Aang collects some berries form the plants along the way. When he does finds Toph picking her feet.

She senses his movements, "Aang is everything okay?"

"Yeah, why"

"Your heart is beating incredibly fast"

"I just talked and stared into the eyes of the peron who has tracked me for five years, of course I was a little frightened."

"Ok then, can we go to sleep now?"

"Sure Toph, I got some food if you're hungry," he sits down next to her.

Toph takes the whole bunch into her earth tent and begins to settle down. Aang walks to the nearby river to practice his waterbending before he tries to get some rest. He thinks back to what he said to Azula, he meant what he said, and told no lie to her. He only hopes that she listened to what he said.

Oooooooooooo

Out in the prison yard of the boiling rock, Sokka and Zuko talk about trying to escape.

"Sokka, remember what we did to escape last time?" Zuko's wheels are turning.

"Yeah, we rode the gondola to the edge and escaped, but we can't do that this time, the controls are operated from up in that tower."

Sokka points to the building that rises what seems like to the tip of the sky.

"Even if we got on the gondola, someone would have to stay behind."

"That is not going to happen," Katara cut into the conversation.

"I know, but when they were about to cut the line and send us into the water at the bottom, we thought we had failed." Zuko put emphasis on the word "water."

"Oh, I think I see what you getting at their Zuko, it's nice to know that is not all just hot air in that head of yours," Sokka teases.

"So you guys want me to freeze the water at the bottom so we can get across?" Katara is catching on.

Zuko says something into Sokka's ear and nods as they both turn towards Katara.

"No, we want you to pull water from the bottom and trap the guards to the walls, then form an ice bridge to the other side so we can all escape and maybe some of these prisoners will want to join us in fighting the fire nation."

"Okay, so when should we do it?" Katara has never been the sole key to a plan before.

"Now, might be a good time, I mean unless you have other things to do." Zuko states sarcastically.

"No, I think we should wait and talk to some of the other prisoners and let them know about the escape plan, and try to get to join us. This is where they send the baddest of the bad, you know." Sokka has always been the one to come up with a good plan.

"Good idea," Zuko ponders the thought.

"It was your idea, I just made it better."

Oooooooooooooo

Azula has sent someone to get her advisors, Lo and Li who have been welcomed back into the fire nation once Azula let go of some of her pride and needed help on deciding where to look for the Avatar, to ask them about what happened with her run-in with the Avatar.

"Start from the beginning," Lo says as she and Li sit on rugs laid out on the floor.

"I followed footprints, broken twigs, even disturbed plants for one day non-stop until I found them," Azula stares at the two with perceptive eyes.

"Continue," Lo and Li say in unison, as they do almost about everything.

"I ran into them as soon as what seemed to be them get ready to sleep, Once they saw me they stood their ground as was expected of course. I made the first move by trying to attack the blind metal bender. I have no idea how but she knew exactly when to move."

"The child of the Bei-Fongs was kept in almost complete secrecy from the rest of the world, her parents didn't want anything to happen to their little angel," Li speaks of undeniable truth.

"She grew bored quickly and so they gave her an earthbending teacher." Lo leads on through the story.

"Little did they know that she already discovered her talents, and perfected them."

"She competed in various tournaments and gained the ability to sense vibration on the ground."

"She quickly learned how to decipher how far away someone was or what they were doing based on the size of the vibration."

They begin to speak in unison, "The earthbender had not only mastered earthbending, but also overcome the disability to see."

Azula cuts them off, "That's touching, but I didn't call you here to talk about the metal bender."

Li looks at her at her with utter seriousness, "It is important to know your enemies, as the lack of knowledge can very well be a princess's downfall."

"Anyway, we fought and I thought I had them in my grasp until I was knocked to the ground. He walked over to me, I was certain that he would kill me when he reached me; but he didn't. He just stood there beside me and he talked to me. He said that we could have been friends." Azula tilts her head and waves her hands in confusion as she in unable to decipher what he meant.

"The Avatar is an air nomad; their ways involve peace and have no hint of aggression. It is expected that he would try to convince you to join him."

"But then, he said he cared about me, that he had always cared about me. Even during our battles, he never hadn't cared." Azula looks at the sheets of her bed and waits for a response.

Lo and Li look at each other and turn back to Azula, "It is not the Avatar's duty to care about anything but the balance of the world, he is suppose to give up anything that attaches him to this world."

Azula looks at them as she had just seen a ghost, "You're dismissed."

Azula knew that the Avatar wouldn't lie; she knew that he had a reputation to keep. She wondered why he would tell her this, she went outside to practice her bending and get her mind off the subject.

**Author's Note – Here you go guys, hope you like it. I've had a lot of spare time on my hands lately so I plan to update as frequently as possible.**


	3. Chapter 3

"We're not making any progress, with all these breaks Toph," Aang tries to encourage Toph.

Yeah, well I need a break, so deal with," begins to lay back.

"Well might as well call Appa down here so we can eat something,"

"Smart thinking Twinkletoes, I'm pretty hungry." Toph sits up and waits for the boom of a 3 ton flying bison hitting the ground.

Aang bended his way onto the saddle on got some of the vegetables for himself and meat for Toph. Once he made his way back to the ground, Toph was waiting with her hand held out.

"Here you go, is that all you're gonna eat?" Aang has an idea to get Toph to hurry to the colonies.

"Yea, until we stop again in a little bit."

"Good."

"Why would you ask?"

"No reason."

With that Aang go up to Appa and gets on the saddle, secures the food, and then climbs back off.

"See you at the Colonies, buddy," Aang says while scratching Appa's side.

Appa then took to the skies toward the colonies instead of the usual direction of travel which is toward the mountains behind them.

"Did you just send Appa over three days away with all of food?" Toph is in utter shock.

"Yep, and it not three days if you don't take a break every three hours Toph."

"You Dunderhead, how are we gonna eat?"

"By getting to the colonies, and relax, we should get there in about a day if we don't stop."

"Sometimes, Twinkletoes, I think you're not as bright as you let on to be."

"I'm the bridge between two worlds; I am possibly to most enlighten one in the world."

"Aang, it's time like these that I regret coming along with you guys."

"Think of it as…inspiration."

With that Aang and Toph begin a long journey towards the colonies. Toph gets angry at Aang when she feels starving in the next hour after not eating that much. All he said to her was we're almost there, just a little further.

Oooooooooooooooooo

In the colonies, Suki and Ty Lee are trying to stay hidden from any citizen of the fire nation. They have been hiding and have spent little time training as they have always had to keep watch. When they met Sokka, they thought they may have had a chance, but that hope died quickly as they had been found when they let their guard down. When Sokka gave them time to escape, they ran as fast as they could and have been ready for another attack ever since. They found Momo when they were out getting supplies and they looked at it as a sign of hope, that Aang was close-by. They had heard passer-bys talking about two refugees that were hiding in the wilderness of the colonies; of course they were talking about them. They also knew that meant there was a possibility that Aang did know where they were.

"Do you think we will ever have a chance," Ty Lee lets out a long sigh.

"Yes, I think Aang will find us and save the world from this misery that fire nation holds on all of this." Suki is just as optimistic as Aang.

"You always see the best in things; it's a great confidence booster," Ty Lee grins after hearing what Suki had to say.

"To be honest, I thought you were gonna go join Azula in her hunt for Aang once she put up fliers saying it was ok for your return."

"Azula always lies," Ty Lee quotes Zuko, "and besides, I devoted myself to Kyoshi, and I have never been one to turn on someone with the exception of Azula."

"Haha, so without the exception of unpredictable psychos?" Suki tries not to laugh.

"Kinda," Ty Lee giggles.

They hear a loud boom outside of their tent and take defensive stances; when they hear a loud roar of all too recognizable bison, they rush outside to Appa.

"It's Aang, he's here." Suki rushes to the bison and hops and the saddle.

"I don't get it, is Appa a runaway too?" Ty Lee has just experienced hoped being crushed.

"Wait; there is food here, which means somebody has been near Appa recently."

"We should take into the camp and make use of it.

As they began to unpack the bag, they discover a note sealed with thread. Suki picks up the note and undoes the note sealing their message of hope.

"What is that?" Ty Lee draws near Appa, who roars in her presence.

"It's ok Appa, she's a friend now. It's a note that was just lying here, like somebody knew someone would see it." Suki looks at the note.

"Who's it from?"

Suki begins to read aloud, "Suki I've that you are hiding in the colonies, I sent Appa ahead to find you. Toph and I shouldn't be far behind him. I also know that Katara and Zuko are now prisoners at the Boiling Rock. Azula has recently found, so I decided that is was time for us to move and start to gather the gang again. We've been hiding in a cave system near Nozomi no Nai, the former city of Bae Sing Sae. You don't have to worry anymore, I'm coming."

Ty Lee is doing cartwheels and dancing around upon hearing the contents of the note.

"Aang is coming; we might be able to beat the fire nation." Ty Lee is brimming with energy now.

"I can't believe that after this time, we're finally gonna be able to do something." Suki has new-found hope.

They took Appa into a shelter not too far from the tent and had him stay there, Momo went with Appa.

"They've got lots to talk about," Suki laughs as she returns to the camp.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Azula has gotten out of bed all day. She has felt ill all day, but doesn't have any idea why. She has told the healer about it and she has said there appears to be nothing she can do about it, Lo and Li say something has disturbed her spirit and she is undergoing a change that needs to be waited out.

"I'm sick of staying here with nothing to do, I could be out there full-filling my father's wishes." Azula moans and groans constantly.

The healer stands and says that she isn't making any progress of getting better any time soon. This has kept Azula thinking and thinking, but all she can think about Aang, she blames this on him and it enrages her and she vows that next time they meet, she will end his life right there, right then.

"Fetch Lo and Li for me," Azula waves a dismissive hand.

Lo and Li enter the room and await a sign of recognition before saying anything. Once Azula sees them they take their seat and await her question.

When she doesn't respond, Li grows impatient, "You summoned us, Azula."

"What is on your mind," Lo quickly follows.

"What is this spiritual block you say I'm going through?" Azula turns to face them.

"Something has happened to make you question your life and your purpose in this world," Li thinks back to her talk with Iroh, who has also now gone into hiding to nobody's knowledge of where, about the situation with Zuko.

It is as if Lo can read her sister's mind, "Until you solve the problem within yourself, then the illness will persist."

Azula groans in frustration, "I don't know what I have to solve."

"It is a mystery until you think about what caused it," Lo seems to know everything.

"You will then have to make a decision; this decision will change your life or let it continue the way it always has." Li rises with Lo.

Azula thinks about her recent encounters with the Avatar. She thinks about what he said to her, and can't believe he said to her. She blames this all on him and swears revenge. Shortly after, everything goes black and she sits in a deep sleep. Lo and Li exit the room with a surprised look.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

"Hey is that who I think it is?" Sokka points at an all too familiar face.

"Chit-Zang" Zuko remembers the man from his last visit here.

Sokka and Zuko walk over to him and Katara follows after a while. She see them talking to a bigger man that they seem to have known before they had been locked up. She stood there with them and remained silent.

"Hey, it's you guys." Chit-Zang pats Sokka on the back.

"So how did you end up back in here?" Zuko stares at Chit-Zang's scares.

"After the fire nation won the war, they hunted every escaped prisoner down, they happened to find me in a village in the Earth Kingdom."

"So who are these guys?" Sokka stares at the group standing beside Chit-Zang.

"Ohh, uh, this is Wu Ten, he's and earthbender, we thought we could use him to escape by catapulting us over the edge of the mountain, but the harpoon tower got us. This is Satou, I found him after I got to the village, and we both lived in secrecy and fought for our lives when the fire nation came for us."

"You guys wouldn't happen to be skilled with your bending would you?" Sokka puts his hand to his chin.

Satou is the first to speak. "I was trained by a fire bending master, Zhong-Zhong."

"Hey, we know that guy; he was Aang's first firebending teacher. After Zhao showed up, he disappeared."

"He taught me all I know."

Wu Ten spoke after a silence, "I learned from self-experience, I taught myself. I competed in tournaments and won many of them, so I don't know if that counts, but that's all I got."

"So what's your escape plan?" Chit-Zang gets to the point.

"Why do you assume that I have a plan?" Sokka tries to sound innocent, but fails.

Chit-Zang raises an eyebrow to Sokka knowing that he has one.

"Fine, we need benders to help us fight our way out of here."

"Where is the way out?"

"Across the water." Sokka points to the edge of the volcano.

"Uhh, that cooler trick didn't work so well last time, and even now they are bolted down from outside. And now the gondola controls are three hundred feet in that giant tower." Chit-Zang rubs his neck.

"Yeah, but now we have a waterbender that can make a bridge."

Katara waves and introduces herself to the group now all eyes on her.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that," Wu Ten has become intrigued at the thought of escape.

"Alright so find others that may want to help and meet here the next time we get out."

Once that was said, the group dispersed and brought up the idea of escaping to the other prisoners. Almost every prisoner immediately joined the cause, but there were a few that didn't think that highly of the idea. Once word got around, anybody that had second thoughts had no qualms about the plan anymore. It was decide that the escape plan would be set into action of the day warden paid his visit, just so he could see his entire guard force fall and watch the prisoners escape. The day turned to night and dark filled the prison.

**Author's Note – Hey guys, I know that I have been updating quickly, but don't get use to it. I usually start on the next chapter before I publish its predecessor so you can have a quick update. I have come into contact with writer's block, I've asked someone to help me and awaiting the response.**


	4. Chapter 4

Azula woke from her sleep 24 hours after she passed out. She felt better than the day before when she was ill, she decided to practice bending for her lack of activity recently.

"I'm leaving" Azula says to the healer as she walks out the door, daring the healer to defy her.

When she exits the room her father is there, dressed in his casual attire which is still somewhat formal.

"Father?" Azula is shocked, "I wasn't expecting you," Azula bows.

"I heard that you weren't well, Azula, I had to check on you." Ozai uses his most caring voice.

"Thank you father, but surely that isn't all you wanted." Azula is testing her father.

"No, I came to see what was taking so long with finding the avatar; you should have found him ages ago." Ozai is now somewhat assertive.

"Father, I assure that I have been relentlessly pursuing the avatar, but he is elusive and a talented hider."

"It has been five years, Azula, and yet he has not been seen until now, I've heard you had a recent encounter with him."

"He has been elusive and avoided everywhere we searched, but we recently got a tip from one of the residents in Nozomi no Nai that they had seen a small boy with blue tattoos living in the caves below the mountains."

"Continue."

"I found them in the cave and they made a quick escape."

"But that was just one of the battles you had with him, wasn't it?,"

Azula was a bit reluctant to tell him of this encounter, she had been defeated. Azula thinks back to the moment she was vulnerable, never had she been vulnerable until then. The avatar was the only person who could defeat her.

"The captain was supposed to send you a messenger hawk."

"I want to hear it from you."

"I met the avatar and the blind metal bender as they were beginning to lay down for sleep. Once I made the first move, we fought, and it was very close until he knocked me off my feet. I regained my stability and I was defeated."

"What happened next? What did the avatar do to you? "

"He spared me; he walked away without finishing the job."

"Azula, you would have died had it been another one of our foes, you should be more careful."

"Father, I wouldn't have lost had it been anyone else."

"Azula, you have so much pride. Your will is the mightiest I have ever seen."

Azula grins; she has impressed her father time and time again.

"But that doesn't change the fact that you lost, that you failed."

"Father, I...," Azula searches for the right words.

She is cut off, "The avatar is one of the fiercest fighters in the world, which is why I have also decided to hunt him down as well."

Azula can't believe that her father is about to take her glory of finding and killing the avatar.

"Shall we be traveling together?"

"We would find him faster if we were to travel separately."

"I shall be going immediately, if that is fine with you of course."

Ozai waves a dismissive hand.

As she walks her path toward where she thinks the avatar may have gone, she remembers what he said to her. She compares what he said and how her father acted; it seemed that is was true, the only real reason he came was to tell her that he was hunting the avatar. Her only purpose was to kill the avatar, and since she had not been doing so well, her father decided to join her in the hunt.

Ooooooooooooooooo

Aang and Toph have finally made it to the colonies.

"Lead the way Toph," Aang motions for Toph to take to the lead.

"I can't believe you sent our food away, I've been starving all day."

"Just a little bit further, we're almost there," Aang teases.

"How am I supposed to know which vibration to follow?"

"The biggest one."

"Why would you say that?"

"I figure a three-ton bison may make quite the impact on the ground when he moves."

Toph focuses on the ground, "I got it."

Toph leads Aang on for miles until they found a small tent, they were reluctant to go up to it because they feared that it may be an encampment. Aang finally went up with his arrows hidden from sight, and walked in with a polite hello.

Suki quickly took a stance and Ty Lee was ready to immobilize him, "We will give you five seconds to get out or you will pay the consequences."

Aang took off his hood and rolled up the sleeves of his cloak he had been using to keep anybody from recognizing them.

"I knew you would come," Suki relaxes.

"Hi, I'm new to the group." Ty Lee introduces herself.

"It's new not having you trying to punch my sides, it's to have you on our side," Aang bows to her.

Toph walks in after a while and takes a stance against Ty Lee.

"Relax Toph, she has been here with Suki, and has joined us to fight the fire nation."

"How do we know we can trust her?"

"Because she hasn't left my side, even when she had the chance to join the fire nation soldiers that captured Sokka." Suki explained.

Aang perks his ears up, "You found Sokka?"

Aang and Toph have not seen Sokka in five years, the last time Aang had seen him was before the night he went off to meet the lion-turtle.

"Yea, we found him after we escaped from a fire nation prison, we found him hiding out just like we are now." Ty Lee tried to shed some light on the subject.

"Little did we know, we were followed and fire nation soldiers attacked us when we least expected it, Sokka gave us time to get away from them." Suki looks at Aang with the most depressing look on her face.

"At least he's ok; I feared that he may not have survived." Aang begins to think of way for them to help them escape.

Momo flies in the door and lands on Aang's head, crawling over him.

"Momo, I missed ya buddy," Aang rubs the back of Momo's spine, "Where's Appa?"

"We took him somewhere not too far from here." Suki explained.

"I'll take you there if you want." Ty Lee offered.

"Please," Aang motions for her to take the lead.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Once they start heading toward the housing for Appa, Aang decided he wanted to know a little about to the agile chi blocker.

"I think it's time I get to know you."

Aang stares at Ty Lee now and remember the battles she was in with her. She was a remarkable opponent.

"What do you wanna know," Ty Lee stands does a hand-stand and begins to walk on her hands.

_The Avatar is kinda cute, not as cute as that water-tribe boy, but he is still cute._

"How are you so agile and quick?" Aang learned form experience that she had been one of the most agile warriors he had laid eyes upon.

"I joined the circus; I had to learn to balance on a high beam with one hand above a net that would catch me if I feel. It was hard at first but I got uses to it after a while."

"Where did you learn to block chi," Aang has always feared her ability to do this. He has seen its effect and prayed that it never happen to him

"My parents decided that I needed to learn how to defend myself, so they made me take a class in advanced fighting techniques. Once I joined the circus, I used a couple moves the boys that got too flirty and started to get on my nerves."

"Wow," Aang looks at the housing where is Appa resting.

"Here we are."

"Appa!" Aang calls out, "Come here."

Appa comes rushing out towards Aang and tackles him to the ground.

"We didn't get along at first but we've come to an understanding now," Ty Lee said patting Appa on the side.

"I expected you to be, different?" Aang has seen as peaceful and easy to be around, this was hard to see when she was trying to take him down.

"Well, I've never been super aggressive towards anybody, I was just afraid of Azula might do to me if I would have displeased her."

"Fear you say, I am also afraid of Azula, she killed me after all." Aang thinks back to when it all went black, when he should have never the light of day again.

"She killed you; I never knew she actually succeeded."

"Well, she wasn't entirely successful." Aang displays that he is in fact alive and well.

"Anyway, I think to that moment now, I should have died, that was a mistake I made that day, to stay and fight. I never try to hurt anyone, but sometime, I'm forced to call on someone that isn't really me. When I go into the Avatar State, I can't really control what I do; I have yet to master it, as I've been unable to unlock the chakra that was locked when I was stuck."

"Not to interrupt, but what is a chakra?" Ty Lee has never heard of a chakra.

"It is a pool of energy inside all f our bodies, the avatar has the ability to lock or unlock them. If they lock then I am unable to go into the Avatar State, but if it they were all unlocked, then I could control myself while I was in the Avatar State. Right now, one is locked, meaning that I am able to into the Avatar Sate, but I can't control myself when I get there."

"Oh," Ty Lee has just learned a lot of new information.

"Anyway, if I could heal the scar then the chakra would unlock, and I could have control. At the moment I had just unlocked the chakra when I went into the Avatar State against Azula. I turned my back to her, and that was it. I don't remember anything else until waking up on a fire nation supply ship."

"You died, then how are you still here?"

"Katara had some spirit water and used that to awaken me. I owe her my life; I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her."

They sat in silence for a while as Aang had just opened up to Ty Lee. She knew she was trusted and sat while she took this all in.

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

"So how's Miss Prissy Pants been?" Toph already has a nickname for her.

"We've gotten along and come to know and trust each other." Suki has begun to make dinner.

"Did you trust her at first?"

"I didn't know what to think, we escaped together and we've had each other's backs ever since. Once we ended up here, we just kinda developed a friendship."

Suki takes this time to think about what sealed the thought of Ty Lee being in the group.

"When we were in prison, we met in the yard and began to talk. It didn't take long for us to figure out who the other was; the only reason we couldn't tell right away was because of all the dirt. Eventually I went to her and we talked a bit. She told me about how Azula had looked like she was about to kill her friend at the very moment we had escaped from the time we were locked up in the boiling rock. She told about she defended her friend and stood up to the person she feared the most, Azula."

Toph never wants to agree with anybody, "What makes you think that she will do the same for you when the time comes, after all she's done."

"Well, when we were talking we thought about how great we could be as a team; we came up with the idea on how we would escape."

Suki takes a moment to think, Ty Lee and Suki didn't totally agree on a plan until about a month of continuous meetings in the prison yard, but what they did was incredible.

"Ty Lee took immobilized a few guards that were alone in the yard while we had been let out. I followed and knocked every guard out that she felt she needed to deal with. I made sure that the bodies were well hidden. We found a key on one of the higher ranked guards and waited until we were called back to our cells. I then used the key to unlock my cell and unlock every prisoner's cell while eliminating any threats."

Toph wondered what she meant when she said eliminated, "What did you to the pansies?"

"I knocked them out and threw them all in one cell, but back to what I was saying. Once Ty Lee and I met up we led everybody onto an airship, took it over and we all went our separate ways when we landed. Ty Lee decided to stay with me; that is how I know I can trust her."

Toph takes a bite of an apple, and lays down on one the dirt. She thinks about what must happened during the escape. Ty Lee seemed that she could be trusted and would make a fine addition. Now all she needed was much more symbolic nick-name.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The gondola had just begun to move, the group is certain that the warden is making his weekly visit. When the gondola comes to a rest and four guards emerge surrounding one person, it confirms their suspicions. Shortly after they are ordered into the yard and arranged in a standing arrangement awaiting an announcement.

The warden looks at the crowd briefly before speaking as he paces back and forth, "The avatar has been found."

Cheers erupt as they now know that their piece of hope in helping them win against the fire nation is alive. The trio of Sokka, Katara, and Zuko celebrate silently among the crowd.

Katara was the happiest of them all, _He's alive, after all this time, he's alive._

"Excuse me, this is not some giant party, the avatar is being hunted by Phoenix King Ozai and soon to be Fire Lord Azula."

Crickets in the background are making more noise than the mass of people.

"The avatar stands no chance of survival," with that, the guards cheered and saluted to the flag hanging from the wall.

Once the warden had made is way up the to the gondola, saw the mass of people crowding around the center of a very memorable person that had escaped before, just as it happened, he saw the attempt coming. A waterbender froze guards where they stood while an earthbender trapped them between rocks. As his force fell, the warden decided that even if they wanted to escape there was no possible way. He just watched.

"Katara, guards nine O'clock." Sokka is shouting orders. "Wu, be sure to cover her."

Zuko lead on onslaught of firebenders toward the wall of security tower. An elevator quickly formed raising them up to the towers.

"Satou take five of the men and disable each tower you come across, I will signal you with a shot to the sky when it's time to leave.

Zuko took four men with him and eliminated every tower that stood in their way. One of the towers was better guarded than the others so they had to struggle. Zuko quickly used the same approach as with the other towers; fist blazing, but the guards quickly deflected and extinguished the fireballs. It became hand to hand combat with each of the guards. Zuko made short work of his opponent and quickly joined another fight. Eventually they took the tower and moved on to the next one. The elevator had raised more and more benders onto the wall until Sokka, Katara and Wu were the last ones on. Zuko saw this and shot his fist to the sky giving Satou the signal. Everybody raced the the bridge of ice that had just formed.

"Great job, Katara." Sokka pats his sister on the back, "Everybody onto the bridge we're getting out of here.

"Everybody across," Chit-Zang was helping direct groups of people across the bridge and onto the edge of the volcano. Chit-Zang had second thoughts before the plan had actually been active, but now he was in the motions of it.

Wu and Satou stood fending every guard that dared to approach. They had known each other through Chit-Zang. When they first met, Chit-Zang introduced them and they been friends ever since. Sokka looked back and gave them a signal to retreat with the pack.

Once everybody got across, Katara destroyed the bridge, "Well that was exciting."

"That was a rush, we should do that again time," Satou was a bit of an adrenaline junky.

"Yea, who doesn't love a little danger?" Wu was right there with them

"Man, you are great, you should really think about helping us defeat the fire nation." Sokka always has a way with words.

"I didn't come last time, but this time I owe you guys, me and my buddies are in." Chit-Zang pounds his fists together.

"Yea, I've needed something to do, and this will certainly do it for me." Wu has an excited look on his face

"And who am I to turn down the offer." Satou looks at eyes staring at him.

"Great now once we have Aang back, we could actually make a difference." Zuko looks at the two new recruits.

"Aang, you mean the avatar?" Wu is dumb-founded.

"Yea but he is not exactly has formal and spiritual as you might think, he was a bit playful when we last saw him." Katara speaks from months of knowledge.

"Who cares the avatar is one I have always wanted to meet and thank for the things he did for Bae Sing Sae," Wu looks at Katara with sincere eyes.

"Alright, it great that you guys are gonna tag along, but how are we gonna get out of here." Sokka scratches his head as he looks off the cliffside.

There is nothing but water surrounding them.

"Which way to the Earth Kingdom?" Katara looks to Sokka for directions.

"There," Sokka points to what seems to be No Man's Land.

Katara makes an ice bridge that heading in the same direction.

"How do you know that," Chit-Zang now thinks that Sokka is a genius.

"Instincts," Sokka laughed.

The warden seeing what just happened, didn't move, he didn't try to stop them, he just stood there in shock of the escape. From the deck where the gondola was stationed, he had the perfect view. He thought they couldn't do, they showed just how wrong he was.

**Author's Note – I said it would take longer, but this chapter is longer than the other. It has come to my attention that I may be writing my chapters a little too quickly, and am making plot mistakes, so I will start slowing down. If you guys didn't know I appreciate reviews, I will send you a personal thank you message afterwards.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Do you know where we could find the others?" Suki has hoped that Aang would know ever since he arrived; she wants to see Sokka again.

"Yes, they're at the boiling rock," Aang voice is depressing.

Suki's hope of seeing Sokka is now as thin as a hair. She knew that he would be in a prison, but she didn't know it would be the same one that they had barely escaped the first time.

"I've been trying to come up with a way to help them escape, all I can think of doing is using Appa to fly in, grab them when they are out of their cells, and then fly out." Aang stares blankly.

"That's not very well thought out," Toph cuts in.

"Yea, that's why I haven't done it yet," Aang explains.

"Last time they escaped on the gondola that took prisoners to the center of the volcano." Ty Lee tries to shed some light on their predicament.

"Don't you think that the fire nation may have done something so that doesn't happen again?" Aang questions.

"I mean that plan could work, all it needs is a little more stealth," Suki explains, "If we all go with you, and some of us fight the guards while someone grabs them, we could actually make the plan work."

"That means putting all of your lives in danger, I won't let you do it," Aang is assertive.

Suki matches his tone, "He has done everything he can to help us, and now I must do the same."

"Fine, is anybody else coming too?"

"I will, it's been kinda boring just sitting here." Ty Lee jumps off the ground.

"Where is that knife-tosser you use to run around with?" Toph looks for the heartbeat of Ty Lee.

"To be honest, I have no idea, we got split up after Azula locked us up, I never saw her again. I wished that maybe we would find her wandering around like we were, but we never did. I kinda miss her, we were best friends." Ty Lee allows.

She was telling the truth, Toph didn't fully trust Ty Lee yet. She had always felt uneasy about her; she couldn't put a pin on it, but something felt wrong. She would have to be watched carefully.

"I know about losing a friend, when I went back to the air temple after a hundred years and found monk Gyatso dead. I couldn't control myself. I went into the Avatar State because of the pain I felt. If Katara wouldn't have been there to stop me; I don't know what would have happened." Aang closes his eyes and looks away.

He couldn't stand to think about that day, he knew what would have happened. He would have destroyed the temple and everything with it. He wouldn't have stopped until the pain went away, until he felt comfort he once had again.

"If you want to come along then you may." Aang explains, "Toph, what about you?"

"I think I'm going to stay here and relax a bit, in case anybody stumbles across this little campsite."

"Alright then we really should get going then." Suki is anxious.

"I'll go get Appa," Aang leaves the tent.

"I wonder if Mai is at the boiling rock too, then I could get her to join us too." Ty Lee heart-rate increased.

Toph was starting to trust Ty Lee more and more. Her heart-rate increased at the name of her friend and getting her to join us, which meant she had hope. She was not cruel and savage like Toph had thought years ago.

The roar of Appa sounded, and then Suki and Ty Lee ran outside. They climbed up on the saddle and then they were off.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

"What was that thing?" Chit-Zang practically screamed.

"It's a sea serpent and it doesn't really like us that much!" Sokka says with fear in his voice.

Sokka and the others just got the shore of Earth Kingdom and had to do battle with the devilish green sea serpent for the third time. They barely subdued it.

"It's amazing how that thing always seems to find us," Sokka explained.

"Anyway, where do we go from here?" Katara looks to Sokka.

"We're going to the colonies so head northwest."

"Wait, we going to a fire nation occupied area?" Wu cuts into the conversation.

"What doesn't the fire nation control?" Satou respond to Wu.

"And I thought you said that you liked danger," Katara looks back at Wu.

"I do," Wu smiles.

They begin to walk toward the colonies, occasionally having to defeat a couple of fire nation scouts but they were making good progress. They had begun to set up camp for the night

"Why are we going to the colonies again," Zuko questions.

"When things started to go wrong during the invasion, that's where I hid. Nobody knew I went there. Eventually Suki and Ty Lee…..,"

He's cut off, "What was Ty Lee doing?" Zuko didn't think Ty Lee would be with Sokka's girlfriend.

"She was helping Suki break out of prison, I didn't trust her at first but I came to the conclusion that she was safe. Anyway when we just starting to relax, we were attacked. I stalled while they escaped. I think they still may be hiding out there."

"Why would you hide in the same place you were found?" Chit-Zang couldn't make sense of it.

"Exactly, who would suspect that you would hide in the same…..." Sokka was cut off by a familiar sounding roar, "It couldn't be."

"It is, it's Aang," Katara jumps up and starts waving her hands

"Aang!" Zuko and Sokka shout in unison.

The rest of the group is jumping up and down waving their hands with Katara.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Did you hear something," Ty Lee looks at Suki.

"Yea, but I wasn't sure if it was just me."

"I hear it too, where is it coming from," Aang looks around.

Appa suddenly start plunging towards the ground, and six silhouettes come into view.

"Is that people?" Ty Lee points toward the figures in the distance.

"It them, Aang there they are!" Suki would be jumping for joy if she weren't already sky high.

Appa comes to a rest and roars when he lands, six familiar faces come into the view.

Aang looks upon them, "How did you guys get out, and who are these guys?"

"We got every prisoner to fight back and we overran the guards," Sokka was proud of what he had accomplished.

"I'm Chit-Zang, I escaped with these two the first time but decided not tag along, this time I'm gonna help you guys out," Chit-Zang pounds his fist together.

"My name is Wu Ten, I'm an earthbender. I competed in tournaments in Omashu and Ba Sing Se while I was younger."

"Looks like Toph has a new play-mate," Suki smiled.

"My name is Satou; I'm a firebender like Chit-Zang."

"Did you have a master?" Zuko had new competition as well.

"His name was Jeong-Jeong."

"Jeong-Jeong! I knew him, he was my first firebending teacher," Aang explained, "He disappeared after one of his students, Zhao, came looking for me."

"Zhao came to kill Jeong-Jeong?" Satou gives Aang a questioning glance.

"Wait you knew Zhao?" Sokka's jaw drops.

"Yea, we were both learning from Jeong-Jeong at the same time, we were sparring partners. Zhao was so obsessed with power; I was more interested in the techniques we were learning."

"Wow, I thought Zhao was the only other student of Jeong-Jeong."

"How is he now?"

"He's dead, he was and admiral in the fire nation army and tried to invade the northern water tribe. When he killed the moon spirit, I had no choice but to end his life." Aang looked Satou directly in the eye, "He threatened to mess up the balance in this world and his punishment was the most severe."

"Wow, I never thought Zhao would come to that."

"I think that we should get back to the camp and then we can all tell each other about ourselves instead of sitting here in plain sight," Sokka cut in.

"Sokka it's the middle of the night, nobody is gonna see us. We would probably draw more attention if we were in the air," Katara explained.

"Yea, we're perfectly fine right here," Aang starts to make a fire.

"Fine, but something tells me that this is a bad idea."

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

It was by luck that Azula had seen the bison after she heard it roar. She followed clumps of fur that had fallen due to its shedding again. It wasn't long until she had a general direction and followed it into the forest near the border of the Earth Kingdom. It didn't take long for her to run up on a tent; she approached it cautiously and readied her hand in case it was whom she suspected. She opened up the flap and walked inside, there was nobody there.

"Hmm, nobody home," Azula walks out of the tent only hear something fling past her ear.

She had no idea what it was and assumed a stance, she decided not to firebend as it would only give her position away. She heard the sound again, but it stuck in the tree next to her. She reached and felt a sharp point, an assassin dared to try and take her on.

"Bring it," Azula smiled as she said it.

She heard a noise off to her left and decided to get closer, but she would need an element of surprise. She climbed up the side of a tree and jumped from tree top to tree top until she saw the moonlight glare off of a dagger that would have hit Azula had the wind not shifted at just the right moment. Azula jumped down out of the tree, she resisted the urge to bend as she wanted to have this person alive. Azula was not accustomed to the dark so she really had no idea of how she was going to find her pursuer.

"I know you're out there, you want to kill m? Well I've got some bad news, today is not going to be the day I fall."

The refection of moonlight is all she sees, and in panic she held her hand and closed it as fast as she could. She had caught something, she heard two more whispers of metal fly past her and then she knew. She rubbed her thumb to feel the familiar lay out of the thrown dagger.

"Mai, it's been so long."

Mai walks out from behind a tree.

"Did you come to kill me, to finish what you should have done in the first place?" Mai questioned.

"I should after your attempt to take me down, but I'm feeling rather generous tonight. Besides I have a much more important target."

"No, we are going to end this here and now." Mai took out three darts and readied herself.

A roar in the distance ended the silence of the showdown.

Mai looked around for a brief moment, "The avatar," she whispered.

When Mai turned back to face her opponent, she was gone. Mai knew where she was heading, and she decided on the same idea. Although her purpose for following was to let the avatar escape the coming danger. Even after everything she had done; Mai wanted to help the avatar, she realized he mistakes when she was in prison on the boiling rock. She escaped with the others, but she kept her identity a secret from them.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Aang and the others are just talking about how Wu, Satou, and Chit-Zang met when they heard something that felt unnatural to the forest. The rustle of leaves made the scene an eerie one.

"Did you hear that?" Aang looks back at the dense forest behind them. He could swear he saw movement, "Guys I think we should leave."

"Aang just a minute ago you were all for staying and now you want to leave?" Sokka's confusion is apparent.

"I can't help but feel that we're being watched. That something is waiting on us to do something wrong," Aang had slightest hint of fear in his voice.

"Aang, when you say those kinds of things you should keep in mind that freaks people out," Sokka looks around to see if anything is behind them.

"I don't know; it just feels like something's out there, just waiting."

"Okay; we're leaving, everybody get on Appa," Sokka motioned his hand.

"Sokka what's wrong, we're having a good time. It's the time since the fire nation is destroying everything," Katara looked up at him with steely blue eyes.

"Aang is really starting to freak me out, and if we go back to the camp then Toph will see it coming."

"I agree, let's go," Aang hopped on Appa.

"I think you guys are over-reacting, maybe we should just look around every now and then we should be safe," Satou cuts in.

"Yea, and who could beat five extremely talented benders and one other guy," Wu teased.

Sokka frowns, "Hey, it's not fault that I'm not a bender."

"What about us?" Suki pointed out the girls in the group.

"Ohh, yea you guys," Satou laughed.

Aang and Sokka climb down and sit next the fire. After a moment, a sound of tearing separates the night's silence. The gang looks around and they hear it again.

"What's that noise," Chit-Zang covers his ears.

"Look, you can see sparks on the tree-line," Sokka pointed at a series of bright flashes.

Blue lit up the sky, but the lightning missed its target. Aang hopped to his feet and assumed his stance.

"Azula's here"

The others quickly readied themselves for a fight. Zuko carried his eyes across the tree-line and saw the shot. He ducked and retaliated with two of his own fiery fists. During her attempt to dodge the attack, she came into view of the others, and soon she was fighting with 6 powerful benders, and 3 agile fighters. She may have bit off more than she can chew. Still she was relentless, she weaved through the volleys as if it were a maze for a child. She made her way up to the group and quickly started to fire balls and lightning bolts as fast as she could. Every time she fired, it was deflected, but she gave the others no opportunity to attack her. They were on even ground and that was how she intended to keep it. Azula made one false move, one slight imperfection and she was hit with a blast of air. She was knocked to her feet and quickly resituated herself. She took up her stance and began attacking the nine of them again. Azula was actually standing her ground against the others.

"Aang, try to get around her, we need to get at her flank." Sokka was turning this into a game of strategy

Aang flew off into the air; he landed behind Azula and begin trying to force her towards Ty Lee. Azula saw what he was doing. She made a quick and table-turning decision. She launched herself into the air, launched fire from her feet and landed behind Aang. She took both of his hands behind his back and pointed two fingers at the avatar. Aang was afraid, he genuinely afraid of what might happen next.

Azula had the avatar right where she wanted him, she do anything she wanted to him. This also caused Azula to think of the times when the situation was reversed. She thought about the times she had fought with Aang, she looked at the moments when she could have been defeated and possibly killed, had the avatar wanted that to happen. She realized that his intent was never to harm her, but to subdue her. She remembered what he told her when he had the perfect opportunity, was she really going to spare him. She had to please her father; she had to have the glory of the fire lord. When she thought about this, she knew what she was going to do, and in the blink of an eye she did it.

A tear ran down the side of her cheek, "I remember." This was all she said.

Aang fell to the floor and Azula ran for it. Katara, Suki, and Ty Lee ran to check on Aang, while the others went after Azula.

"He's alive, she didn't do anything." Katara was relieved of this finding.

"But why?" Suki wondered as to why Aang was left unscathed after being in the grip of Azula.

"I'll tell you why," Mai walks out from the shadows of the forest, "because she's Azula."

"Mai!" Ty Lee runs up and hugs Mai.

"Hey," Mai shows almost no emotion.

"Where have you been?"

"Uhh, that might have to wait," Mai pointed out that her friends were in a fighting stance, ready to defend themselves.

"Guys, relax." Ty Lee looked at the with excitement.

"I'm done with Azula, done with the fire nation," Mai explained.

Suki and Katara relaxed but they were still weary.

"Azula put me in that prison when I helped Zuko escape."

Katara was stunned, "You helped Zuko escape the boiling rock?"

"Yeah, and I was locked up in the same prison."

"I remember, you kept the guards from cutting the line," Suki cut in.

"That's me."

"So how did you get out?" Ty Lee asked.

"I escaped through a huge rebellion lead by that water tribe boy and Zuko."

"So you escaped with us?" Katara said bewildered, "I never saw you there."

"I was kept in the highest security cell, I was only let out when my father requested it, It was usually only for a moment."

"You should join us and help Aang defeat the fire nation," Ty lee suggested.

"Sure, it's not like I have anything else to do."

Katara and Suki had completely relaxed; Mai had convinced them of her innocence. Aang, who had just regained awareness, jumped up and assumed a stance.

"Relax Aang, she's with us now," Katara comforted Aang.

"Huh?" Aang rubbed his forehead.

"She was locked on prison by Azula after helping Sokka and Zuko escape the boiling rock prison the first time," Katara explained, "and now she wants to help us."

"Oh," Aang relaxed.

"Where are the others?" Aang looked around.

"They went after Azula."

"What happened?"

"Azula just left, she ran without doing anything," Suki pointed out.

Aang showed no emotion on the outside, but on the inside he was as joyful as ever. He knew after doing what she had just done, she was capable of change.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

After running for so long, hey had almost decided to give up, but when they stopped and caught their breath. They heard someone else breathing hard; they eased their way towards the sound and Sokka directed Zuko, Satou, and Chit-Zang to cut off an escape.

Azula was hiding behind one of the tree trunks; she was out of breath after running from her pursuers. She heard whispers near her once she started to control her breathing again. She knew they had found her and she was about to be in another fight. Azula looked for an escape route, and found one with ease. She followed it with haste, but she shortly ran into Zuko and two others she hadn't seen before. She tried to run around them, but they had already seen her.

"Hm, hm, hm," Zuko, Satou and Chit-Zang grunt with ferocity as they attack.

Their attacks were synced, they attacked with their right fist, then left, and then that was followed by a kick. This left Azula hardly any room to retaliate, they attacked in perfect unison. It was obvious that they had planned on how they would attack her; which meant that shortly, she would have one of the water tribe peasants and the other bender coming after her soon. She had to think of something, she lashed out with multiple sweeps of her feet, trying to make her attackers lose their footing and provide her an opportunity to escape. She saw her opportunity, but instead she stayed and fought. She was forcing them back with her relentless sapphire balls of fire. She had to keep attacking, or they would regain their footing and start to push her back. She grew tired and stopped, she heard nothing. She knew something was off, then in an instant, three streaks of fire simultaneously launched towards her. She deflected them, but she was surrounded. She knew that the water tribe boy had started directing their attacks, and with his help, her chance grew slim. Soon she heard the sound of the earth beneath her shifting; she quickly rolled away as the rocks erupted into a cage. The earthbender had joined the fight as well.

"Keep it up, we almost have her," Sokka's voice stood out among the fighting.

Azula decided to try for a cheap blow on the boy and sapphire blue blazed a path towards him. It nearly hit, but Wu had brought up a slab of rock to shield him. Sokka became more and more like a general with each fight. Azula saw her attackers move to protect him, while the earthbender stayed in front of her, blocking her escape. She decided that she was had been beaten, it was only a matter of time before she was captured. In silence she approached Sokka and the firebenders protecting him, they had halted their attack at her sight.

Azula put her hands up, "A princess surrenders with dignity."

**Author's Note – Guys I appreciate reviews, please if you have the time then leave one. **


	6. Chapter 6

"Who are all these people?" Toph notices five more heartbeats than she had expected.

"Well this is Chit-Zang," Sokka commented.

"Hello," Chit-Zang waves.

"He escaped from the boiling rock with us twice, he's gonna help us this time," Sokka explained, "This is Satou, he's a friend of Chit-Zang's that decided to tag along."

"What's up," Satou leans against one of the frames holding up the tent.

"This is Wu, he's an earthbender, and he also competed in tournaments like you."

"I heard you were a champion," Wu looks to Toph.

"You heard right," Toph smiled.

"This is Mai, she was helping Azula, but she's convinced me that she's on our side."

"Who's is that?" Toph points to someone tied up almost completely in rope.

"Azula, she attacked us when Aang found us. When she tried to run, we got her. Ty Lee had to do all that punching pressure points stuff so she can't bend for a while."

"Aang can I talk to you for a minute?" Katara voice was soft so that only he could hear her.

"Sure," Aang walked outside of the tent.

"Aang, I know you don't feel that we should do this, but we need to make sure that Azula can't hurt you anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"You have to kill her; Aang, before she tries anything else." Katara tried to sound comforting.

"She is a prisoner; she surrendered and will be treated with respect. I don't want to hear about this again," Aang's peaceful gray eyes were now a thundering storm.

"Aang you have to think about this." Katara placed her hand on his shoulder.

He quickly brushed it off, "Azula will not be killed."

Aang then went back inside the tent, he was followed by Katara. Sokka was explaining everybody's stories and how they got where they were. Katara just sat and thought about what had happened. Why did Aang get so defensive? She thought.

"Well, our new mission is to find some bigger shelter, it's getting a little cramped in here," Sokka interrupted her thoughts.

"I think I know I place we can try again," Zuko commented.

"You want use to go back to Ember Island?" shock was apparent in Toph's voice.

"Why not?" Sokka cut in, "It worked the last time."

"Ok, but how are we gonna get there without someone seeing us" Toph pointed out, "And while we have her." She points to Azula.

"We'll fly there on Appa, if anybody sees him, then we have to fight." Aang stated.

"Alright, so it's settled then, we're going to Ember Island," Sokka grabbed his stuff, "The sooner we leave the better."

The gang started packing their things and loaded it all into Appa's saddle for the trip. Surprisingly the saddle fit eleven passengers.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Aang tried to keep Aang as high in the air as Appa would allow. Eventually they were about to run into the fire nation border. A blockade spotted them, and Aang had make Appa dodge the volley of flaming boulders. Azula saw this as her chance to escape. Everybody was holding to the saddle for their lives so they didn't notice Azula trying to roll off. After a few seconds of struggling, she was almost over the edge of the saddle. The rope binding legs, arms, and hands, to her chest was quite the challenge, but she knew that once she hit the water, the rope would loosen and she could escape. Azula made it over the side and rolled, but not before Chit-Zang noticed.

"She rolled off the side!" Chit-Zang yelled to Aang.

"Sokka take Appa, I'll go get Azula," Aang opened up his glider and took to the skies.

He searched for Azula's falling body. When he saw he immediately sped to her. Azula saw him coming and tried to break the hold that the rope had on her. She noticed that the boulders were hindering the avatar's ability to get to her quickly. She made it too the water, but Aang made an ice sheet right next to her before landing on it. The hurling boulders made horrible noises as they passed overhead and landed in the water. Aang held out his to Azula, who had managed to get one of her hands free of the rope.

"Take my hand," Aang hoped she would comply, he feared that if she didn't, she may die in the water.

"No, I would rather die than be your prisoner," Azula snapped.

"Do you really want to die?" Aang tried to reason, but the constant pressure of the blockade made it difficult, "Or do you just want to be free."

Azula contemplated this, she wanted to be free. Being a prisoner was the second worst fate she could suffer, next to death.

"You don't realize that you are being held prisoner by your father as well."

"Father would never control me."

"Take my hand and I'll explain it to you." Aang tried to negotiate with the princess.

Azula took his hand and they flew away from constant hurling of fiery boulders. She grabbed onto the avatar as she didn't want to fall this time. She couldn't help but realize that she felt a sense of safety when she was near him.

Once they were far from the blockade, Aang landed on a small island and started to talk, "Does Ozai allow you to be free?"

"I'm here now, away from him." Azula decides to listen to what the avatar has to say instead of attacking him.

"But he's told you to hunt me down, right?"

"Yes."

"You've been hunting me for five years Azula; you're a prisoner to your father's commands."

"I am free to do as I wish."

"Then what do you want to do?"

Azula hasn't thought about that, she was always busy doing what her father had told her to do. Then she realized that she had just admitted to being a prisoner to her father's wishes. She remained silent. Aang took it as a sign that she didn't know and held his hand out for her to take it so they could go. Reluctantly, she took his hand and they headed to Ember Island.

Ooooooooooooooooo

"Alright Katara, we need some cover," The gang was approaching their destination.

"On it," Katara moved the clouds to surround Appa, it appeared as they were just a cloud.

"Alright this time nobody talk," Sokka whispered.

"You're talking right now," Toph teased.

"Shhhh."

Sokka looked for a place for Appa to land without drawing too much attention. Once they found a suitable place, they got their things and headed to the fire lord's house. Sokka stayed behind to hide Appa.

"So where is this house of yours?" Chit-Zang's feet were getting sore.

"It's not too far from here," Zuko replied.

"That's what you said ten minutes ago," Satou groaned with aching muscles from all of the stuff he was carrying.

"Yea, but I mean it this time."

"So how close is not too far?" Wu budded in.

"Right there," Zuko pointed to the most luxurious house on the island.

"Woah," Wu and Satou said in unison as they awed elaborate house.

Wu and Satou started run towards the house so they could pick their rooms first. When everybody else arrived, the two were arguing on who was going to get the room with the view of the ocean.

"No, I got here first," Satou complained.

"Yea, but I called it," Wu responded with intensity

"You can't call it, the rule is: If you get there first, then you get to pick."

"No, if someone calls the room in advance then the rule obsolete."

The two look at each other with anger, and Toph can feel the heart rates rising, "You could just both take it."

They looked at Toph, then back at each other. They nodded and began unpacking their things.

Sokka walked through the door, "Finally, I thought my feet were gonna melt."

"You're always complaining," Suki looked at Sokka.

"It's kinda my job."

Ty Lee and Suki giggled, while the others looked at him with no emotion.

"Where's Twinkletoes, he should have been back by now," Toph pointed out.

"Yeah, where is Aang. He just flew off Appa to get your sister and disappeared," Sokka looked through a window.

"He's probably on his way; just give him some time," Katara said softly.

As that was said, Aang and Azula walked through the door. Azula was not tied up in rope, she was walking freely. As they walked through the others just stared with blanks looks on their faces. Aang and Azula walked into a room near the back of the house.

"What do you think happened?" Toph asked nonchalantly.

"I don't know, but I intend to find out," Zuko walked the Aang's room.

Zuko walks over to the door, he listens for a moment and hears them talking, but can't make out what they're saying. He knocks and the door and gets no response and he can tell that they immediately stopped talking.

The door opens and Aang is standing on the doorstep, "Do you need something?"

"I'd like to speak to my sister alone," Zuko's voice is sincere.

"Alright, just go in, I'll see what the others are up to."

Zuko walks in the room to find his sister calmly sitting in a chair looking at her nails.

"Zuzu, so nice of you to visit," Azula smirked

"Why did you try to escape? You would have died," Zuko stares at his sister with bright amber eyes.

"Did you think I cared, I would rather have died than be a prisoner."

"You're here now."

"Yes, but I'm not exactly bounded in chains now am I?"

"You think so high of yourself, you don't have the right."

"Don't I?" Azula laughed, "I must have missed the day you were banished and I stayed with father at the palace."

"Father banished me because he thought I had showed weakness. I showed honor in bowing to my father."

"Strength, you begged for father's mercy but he would not give it to you."

Zuko felt enraged, "And what about you? You pushed everyone that cared about you away because of your need for power."

"You must be able to control someone to get results."

"No Azula, you have to form a bond. You don't need power to have someone commit to your every demand."

Azula scolds at the imperfection on her nail, "You think so kindly of everything, it will ultimately be your downfall."

"Downfall?" Zuko yelled. "Look at us now. I'm a man fighting for hope. You're a monster fighting for a man that doesn't care about anyone but himself. Father just inherited a role, a role to finish the war, when the resistance that's left is gone, what is he going to do? Let everyone live happily, no there will always be pain and hatred because of what the fire nation is doing."

Monster she thought, her mother thought she was a monster. She hated it, she wanted her mother to love her, even though her visitor resembling her mother told her that she loved her, she knew that it wasn't true. Her mom was happy to leave, she told Zuko goodbye, but what did she tell her? Nothing, she left with telling her goodbye. Zuko took her silence as a sign to leave, he respected her wishes.

Azula is starting to feel the rage, "Do you think I cared about what mother thought of me, she was a nuisance to me."

"A nuisance," Zuko yelled, "She was family Azula!"

"Was?" Azula taunted, "Have given up hope already, Zuzu?"

"No, I haven't like you, I still think she's alive," Zuko beamed fiery eyes at his sister, "She didn't just care about me Azula, she loved you too!"

"She obviously didn't care about me as much as she cared about you!"

"I was with her all the time while you stayed the war room with father!"

"I stayed with father because he asked me to stay," Azula smirked, "He couldn't wait for you to leave so you would stop embarrassing him."

"I'm sorry I wasn't good enough to be father's pet!"

"Remember what happened on the day you were banished brother? Father blazed your eye, that shows how much he cares about you!"

"He would do the same to you!"

"Father loves me," Azula then thinks about what she just said, it was a lie. Azula was nothing more than a pawn in a game of chess. This gave Zuko the upper-hand in their argument.

"Does he tell you that, or do you just assume?" Zuko's fire was brighter than ever. He hadn't even realized that he had a flare in his hands while he was yelling.

"Be careful Zuzu, someone might get burned and it won't be me," Azula's voice was calm, and when Zuko turned around. He saw the Aang waiting standing in the frame of the door.

Zuko walked out of the room and Aang followed him, leaving Azula alone.

Aang sees Zuko walking towards him, "How'd it go?"

"We caught up with each other," Zuko tried to hide details of the argument.

Aang saw through it, "What happened?"

"We fought, like we always do. Like we always will," an eerie sorrow hid in Zuko's words.

"It'll get better, she hasn't tried to fight back yet."

"My sister will make her move when you least expect it, be ready when she does."

"I'm sure I can handle Azula."

"She killed you once, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to do it again."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"What do you think Aang's going to do with Azula," Ty Lee is unloading her stuff with Mai.

"I don't know, I don't care," Mai lays back on one of the beds.

A silence creeps in the room before one of them talk.

"You think that we can actually fit in with them?" Mai looks to Ty Lee.

"I think they trust us, I helped that Suki escape from a prison rig."

"Hmm, this just feels weird," Mai looks back to the ceiling.

"It felt weird when I was hiding out with her, but when we found that Sokka boy, things got better."

Katara enters the room, "Hey, do you guys need help with anything?"

"No, I think we've got it," Ty Lee politely responds.

"Ok, just checking. I hope you guys make yourself at home."

Katara left the room and Ty Lee looked back to Mai, "See, nothing to worry about."

"I guess."


	7. Chapter 7

A few weeks later...

The group is still hiding on Ember Island and waiting for Sokka to come up with a good plan. Sokka has spent most of his time trying to locate their other lost friends and family, he hasn't really paid attention to anything else lately. Aang and Azula have been spending alot of time together, they have dinner together, and they spend time alone a lot, and the others often wonder what happens behind those doors. Zuko and Katara share the most concern for him. They've realized that Aang is hardly ever away from Azula, she is more someone to talk to than a prisoner, but Aang hasn't let her leave his room.

"What do you think they think of me?" Azula crosses her legs while sitting in a chair.

"What do you mean?" Aang looks up form adjusting one of his pillows.

"You have me locked me up in here, and besides Zuzu they never come talk to you while I'm in here. So what do you think they think of me?"

"I think Zuko cares about you and the rest don't know what to think about you, they just know you're here."

"You think my brother cares about me? He probably wants me dead more than anyone else."

"Azula, he's your brother and he cares about you. If he wanted you dead don't you think he would have already tried, he would protect you if you were any danger."

"I suppose that reasonable, and what about you?" Azula looks up from her nails.

"I think you're just someone who was taken from their destiny and forced to take another." Aang walked over to the princess.

"What makes you say that?" Azula twists her head a little upon asking.

"You haven't tried to escape since you got here and I believe that you can help us."

"So is that what this is? Are you just trying to add another person to your little group?" Azula starts to size up the avatar.

"No, you're more than just that. You have changed from your former self."

"More than just another person?" Azula decides to test the avatar again, "Go into detail about that."

"You are more than just a person; you have the will of gravity. I believe you could do anything as long as you are pure."

"Having pure intentions you mean? My intentions on capturing you were pure avatar; it's just that now I'm not sure what I want to do," Azula sighs as she admits it.

"It's called a mental block, it's created by feelings." Aang sits down beside the chair Azula is in.

"Feelings and I haven't gotten along very well in the last few years."

"We all have feelings, we just may not be sure if they are positive or negative, love or hatred, protecting or…."

He is cut off by knocking and then the opening of the door to Aang's room. Sokka walked in the room and eyed Azula cautiously who returned the favor of a stare.

"Aang, I need to talk to you, alone."

"About what?" Aang looked to Sokka with questioning eyes; he knows the group has been wary of his time with Azula.

"About the strength of our group, and I think it should be discussed in private, away from her." Sokka looked from to Azula.

"Ok," Aang looks to Azula, "I'll be right back."

Sokka leads Aang to his room where he can see maps laid around the room.

"Aang, we have ten people against the whole fire nation, I've tried to come up with a way we could use that to our advantage but at every turn we end up eventually getting overrun and captured. Even the stealth missions are coming up short," Sokka frowns putting his hands to his face.

"There has to be something to do," Aang thinks for a minute, "I've been trying to convince Azula to help."

"Aang, I don't mean to drown your hopes, but do you really think she can change?" Sokka turns to him.

"I think that if anyone is given enough time, then they can do anything they want."

"Well you better hope that she comes through because I'm smack out of ideas."

"Hmm," Aang brings his hand to his chin then gets an idea, "Maybe the spirits will know something we can do."

"Ok, you see what they tell you and I'll get the others together and tell them our plan when you get back," Sokka looks back to his maps and scrolls.

Aang exits the room decorated with maps and heads back down to his room where he finds Azula still sitting in the chair beside his bed; waiting for his return.

"What was that about?" Azula glared at the avatar.

"Nothing, he just wanted to tell me about our plan."

"Hmm," Azula wondered what the water tribe boy had been panning, they hadn't moved for so long it had to be big.

"I'll be out on the balcony if you need me."

"Doing what?"

"Just meditating, I won't be long," Aang stepped outside and began to meditate.

After a while she heard a sound worth investigating on the balcony; she decided to go out and see what it was and if Aang caught her then she would just say she was bored. When Azula stepped out on the balcony, she saw something she couldn't believe, the avatar's tattoos were glowing. At first she was afraid of what was to come so she assumed a fighting stance and waited for something to happen, when he remained in his sitting position she realized that he was in the spirit world. Something rose up in Azula, she saw that this maybe her opportunity to get the avatar and escape. She may finally bring him back to her father and become the fire lord that she was meant to be, but the avatar had shown her his trust and had been kind to her while she was here. Even if his goal was to turn her on her father, he had treated her with the respect she didn't deserve. She thought on this for a moment, but she knew that her greed for power would overcome her will to do nothing. She looked at the glow and knew that the avatar had made it into the spirit world. She tried to hold onto the shred of will she had left but her resolve was weakening fast as she thought of herself sitting on the throne of the fire nation.

"Fire Lord Azula," She smiled at hearing herself say it, she knew what she was going to do.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Aang was sitting on a platform in swamp filled with a gloomy fog and eerily standing trees, he looked around for the one he intended to talk to and saw his reflection in the murky water, "Roku, I need your help. My friends and I are trying to defeat the fire nation again, but we can't think of a plan that would work."

"Aang, the fire nation has grown strong in their time holding the world at their finger tips."

"They still don't have control of the Northern Water Tribe."

"The day of the water tribe's fall is fast approaching and there isn't much than can be done."

"But there has to be something."

"Aang, I know what you're going through right now is hard, and you shouldn't have had to deal with this. If anyone is to blame for the state of the world, it is me. I should have seen this war coming, and prevented it. You inherited my problems, and my mistakes, and I believe you are destined to redeem me and save the world."

"I don't know, you just said there isn't much we can do."

Yue made an appearance to Aang, "You already saved the world," She comes closer to Aang, "And you'll save the world again, but you can't give up."

Aang looks at both of them, "you're right, I won't give up. The spirits have influence on the world, and I hope they help when the time comes."

"I will plead with them and see if they will support you, but the spirits hardly intervene in human affairs, only when the balance of the world is at stake will they do anything." Roku stated with a hint of confidence in his voice.

Aang nodded, and then he could feel something off about himself; he felt adrenaline, but he wasn't with his body, he felt heat, but he was by water. He sensed what his body was feeling, his body was in danger.

"Roku, I think my body's in danger, I need to get back to it."

Roku gives Aang a very confused look, "Aang, in the spirit world, you have no connection with your physical body. Why do you think your body is in danger?"

"I don't know, I just feel hot, and out of breath but how is that possible if I'm here?"

"Step on the platform and you will return."

Aang stepped onto the platform and began to meditate, but the constant feel of uneasiness, heat, and adrenaline made it hard to focus, after a long length of time his spirit ascended and began its journey back to the physical world.

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

After running from the house, Azula carried Aang to the shore and began to look for something she could use to get off the island. She looked and saw plenty of boats she could steal, but nothing seemed to large enough to make the journey. She eventually ran into one of the more populated spots on the beach and found a patrol.

Azula addressed them with dominance, "Guards, I need a ship ready for the transport of the avatar to the fire nation palace."

"On who's orders?" The guard looked into her soul with no facial expression through his helmet.

"The fire nation princess's orders," as Azula said it the guards immediately bowed.

The guard stood up when he was allowed looked a little bewildered but shook it off when he recognized her, "Yes princess."

One of the guards was carrying Aang over his shoulder and the residents of Ember Island took notice. She received many stares that she would have gladly returned, but she just wanted to get the avatar to her father so she could finally be the fire lord. It was achingly long before she was directed toward a port with a fire navy ship ready for the trip. The captain was on the deck awaiting the princess's arrival.

Once she made her way up the steel ramp she addressed the captain, "Captain, would you show me where I will be staying on this journey home?"

"Of course, princess, and what of the avatar?"

"He will stay with me; I'll have him secured once we get to my quarters."

"But wouldn't it be safer if he…."

"Captain, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Azula showed little emotion; normally she would have been outraged but something held back that anger.

The captain bowed, "Yes princess, right this way."

The captain led her down a maze of never-ending halls that emitted heat at every corner and finally came to the most open and decorated room on the ship.

"That will be all, captain," She waves off her escorts and the guard sets Aang down on the floor.

"We should arrive within a day's time princess," the captain left her and shortly she heard the sound of the engine and she knew that there was no turning back.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Usually Aang would have come out of there by now," Katara eyed the door that eerily stared back.

"He spending time with my sister, he thinks he can change her," Zuko leans against the door frame leading into the living room of the beach house.

"It's possible, I mean we changed, and after the things we did you guys accepted us," Ty Lee motioned at Mai, herself, and Zuko.

"I couldn't care less, as long as we get out of here soon, I came to fight not to take a vacation," Chit-Zang cut in.

"Yea, yea, go see what those two nim rods you brought with you are doing," Toph bit into an apple.

Chit-Zang grunted and went to check on his friends.

Katara was still looking at the door, "Maybe I should just check on him," Katara began walking to the door.

Sokka heard her and stepped to cut in front of her, "Katara relax, he's in the spirit world to see if they might help us."

Mai finally spoke, "You're telling me that he went into the spirit world with Azula next to him?" She paused, "That all-knowing kid just made one of the biggest mistakes of his life."

Katara shot daggers at her, "What do you mean?"

"Do you really think that Azula will just sit there and just watch him while he's in the spirit world?" Mai looked to Zuko, "I bet she's laughing at us now."

With that Katara rushed to door and tried to open it, "It's locked."

Zuko came up and kicked the priceless door in, he looked around the room, at the chairs, and at things laid out on the bed before saying the obvious, "They're gone."

The expression on Sokka's face showed great sorrow and pain, he should have known that this would have happened, he should have known that doing it front of her would have been a mistake, He should have stopped him.

Katara began to tear up and clung onto her brother, "What are we gonna do?"

Suki finally came into the room followed by Chit-Zang, Satou, and Wu. Suki looked around the room, "Woah, what happened?"

"Azula took Aang, and she's probably on her to the fire nation capital," Zuko looked out onto the balcony.

Sokka looked up at the group and showed no expression of sadness, only determination, "Here's what were gonna do, Azula is on the way to the fire nation capitol. We won't be able to stop her before she gets there, so we'll have to wait till noon tomorrow when the palace is heavily guarded and the city isn't. Then we'll sneak in using cloud cover and find Aang then."

"You want to wait until tomorrow?" Katara was outraged, "What if Azula kills him by morning?"

"Katara calm down…."

He's cut off, "You want me to calm down? Aang has done everything for us and you want to wait. How could you betray Aang like that?"

"I'm not betraying him, Katara listen. The fire nation wants Aang alive so they'll keep him that way."

Katara grunted and the rest of the group nodded as they prepared for the day ahead.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The night came fast and Sokka had the disability to sleep. Suki climbed out of bed after becoming impatient with him and came up to him while he was looking out of a window.

"You always stare at the moon," Suki looked at Sokka.

"Yue," His eyes didn't budge from the sight, the moon was nearly full tonight.

"Who?"

"Yue, that's her name."

Who's name?"

"The moon spirit's name, she was the princess of the northern water tribe, and I was told to protect her, to keep her safe from the fire nation assault. We had just gotten Aang back from Zuko and found Zhao when he was threatening to kill the moon spirit. Iroh showed up and Zhao saw he was outnumbered; he put the moon spirit back with the ocean spirit. It seemed like everything was gonna be fine, but Zhao lashed out and killed it. The moon disappeared and Aang fought off the fire nation with the ocean spirit's help. Iroh was talking to Yue and realized she had been touched by the moon spirit, that it had given her life when she was a child. Yue accepted that she had to give her life back. When she got in the pond, her body disappeared, and she became the moon spirit."

Suki hugged him, "It's not your fault, there's nothing you could have done."

"I can't help but blame myself, her father trusted me and I couldn't protect her. I had to watch her disappear and leave. I had to tell her dad about what happened, I felt powerless and shamed."

"Sokka, you need to let it go. Goodnight I'm off to bed." Suki walked off to the waiting bed sheets.

It didn't take long for Suki to drift off, Sokka still stayed awake and stared at the one he lost.

_Let it go? _He thought, _how could I let it go? I was trusted and I failed, I will never let this go, I will always remember. The fire nation will pay._

Yue must have known what he was thinking, because she made her appearance to him at almost exactly that time in the glistening moonlight.

"Sokka, it's alright. Everything is alright. You need to rest before your mission tomorrow, Aang needs you."

"You've seen Aang?"

"We talked in the spirit world; he was still trying to back to the physical world when I left. Avatar Roku is pleading with the spirits in hopes that they will help you, I have influence on the world, and you have my support."

"Do you know where his body is?"

"No, he thought his body was in danger so he tried to get back to the physical world."

"He is in trouble; Azula has him and is probably on his way to the fire nation palace with him."

"Don't worry, the moon will be full tomorrow and I will help him when I can."

"Thank you Yue." Sokka looked up at her.

"Now get some rest."

Sokka walked over to the bed and in an instant, fell asleep for the day ahead.

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, I've been studying for finals. Guys I would appreciate it if you left reviews, the readers are what inspire the writers and are what keep us motivated to continue writing.**


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm just glad we're finally getting to do something," Chit-Zang was carrying his things over to Appa's saddle.

Katara was annoyed at his comment but she chose to ignore him and try to get off the subject before her emotions got the best of her, "Sokka where did you hide Appa all this time?"

"I just told him to stay hidden in the trees, and I guess Momo just stayed with him," Sokka was on Appa's back loading everybody's things onto the saddle.

Ty Lee had all of her bags on the ground just looking at them, "Hmm, I don't think all of my stuff is gonna fit."

"You don't need all of it, just take some clothes and another bag of something you want and you should be fine," Mai dully commented.

"Hmm, I don't know. I might not see these things again."

"We're going to the fire nation; we could just buy it again once we get there."

Momo kept flying overhead dropping leechi nuts into a pouch on the saddle, eventually he tried out and landed on Appa's head. Appa didn't bother to try and get him off.

Sokka looked over at him, "I think that's enough Momo, we should last until we get there."

Wu and Satou came running up the path with their things in hand. Wu looked over the others who were just staring, "You guys are gonna need more enthusiasm for the fire nation."

Satou quickly commented, "You really think they need any enthusiasm? They've been doing this longer than we have and they seemed to be doing it quite fine."

"It wouldn't hurt," Sokka shrugged his shoulders.

"Yes it would, if we were all too juiced to fight then we would die easily once we got the fire nation capitol," Zuko quickly corrected.

"Looks like someone's a little grumpy," Toph teased.

Zuko grunted and threw his things onto the saddle, "We need to start moving before my sister has too much time to hide Aang."

"Hide him?" Katara eyes widened a little.

"Azula knows we're coming, which means my father will know, and they will do their best to make sure we don't find him."

"Alright, we should go then," Sokka took the rains and opened his mouth but was cut off.

Wu was sitting next to him, "I wanna do it, what do you say to get him up?"

Sokka looked at him and let out a bit of a laugh before saying, "Yip yip."

Appa took to the skies, upon hearing the words.

"Awwww man."

"Better luck next time sport," Sokka patted his back.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Azula made it to the port and guards escorted her to the palace.

"Your father is expecting you," a guard stationed outside the throne room briefed the princess.

Azula walked in and was carrying the avatar around her shoulders. She made it to the throne room and sat Aang beside her.

"At last he is here," Ozai's joy is nothing but recognizable.

"His body is, but he is somewhere else."

"Azula, I'm aware of the Spirit World, and I know that he's there. I plan to kill him while he is there."

"Kill him!?" Azula was shocked, she had no idea of her father's intentions with Aang, she wanted Aang to stay alive, she didn't know why but she did. She tried not to show her concern, "I thought you meant to imprison him so we wouldn't have to search for the next avatar."

"I did, but while he is in the avatar state and he is killed, then the avatar's spirit is killed and can't be reborn. It is the same while he's in the spirit world, if his body is killed, then his spirit is trapped in the spirit world with no physical form to return to. It would be an agonizing boredom to watch your friends and family and have no way to talk to them."

In a moment's notice, Ozai jumped in the air and showed his ferocity with the fire bursts the emitted from his mouth and fists. When he landed he looked for a dead avatar, but what he saw was his daughter standing in the way. She saved the avatar, she disobeyed him.

Nobody saw Aang beginning to regain consciousness, he saw the scene before him and he wanted to see how it would play out so he acted as if he was exhausted and had fallen asleep.

Ozai nor Azula had noticed the absence of the glow, the burning fore was enough to replace it, "How dare you spare your enemy, he tried to kill me!"

"No, he didn't, he told me about how he was going to and then he tried to spare you. He told me that when he failed, you tried to end his life without the mercy he showed you."

"Azula, get out of the way."

"No, the avatar will be shown the mercy he deserves."

"Submit!"

"No."

Ozai was surprised that Azula was willing to stand up for his enemy; he repeated his words, "Submit!"

She didn't move, when Ozai let out a few more bursts of red hot fire, she stayed her ground and blocked his attack.

"Are we really going to do this father?"

"Don't be a traitor Azula, don't be like Zuko. Treason is punishable by death."

"Aang is worthy of the fire nation's mercy, he showed you his and now it's time for you to show him yours," Azula stood in her stance not moving a muscle.

"Aang? You're a first name basis with the Avatar? He will not be shown mercy. He is turning you against me," Ozai's ferocity showed through his eyes.

"If he would've turned me then why would I come back?"

"To kill me and take my throne."

"If you want a fight, then you've got one," Azula threw her sapphire fists at him leashing her power with it.

Ozai was quick to act, and with a sweep of his feet, Azula was on her back. She recovered quickly to look around and see her father nowhere in sight. She closed her eyes and listened, she heard a sound moving towards. She opened her eyes and launched a stream of lightning in the direction. She saw orange speeding toward her and tried to move quickly, she succeeded and saw her father looking in shock. She took advantage of the moment and went for the final move; she swept her feet but her father counter with a split of fire toward her, separating the stream of sapphire that was coming to him. He looked around, and didn't see her. He decided to lash out and throw fire everywhere he thought she could hide. When there was no result, he realized that the avatar was now venerable, why was he chasing her? He looked at the avatar's body, the glow was gone. Had he been killed in the fight? Had he been defeated?

As he stepped forward to examine the situation, he felt a piercing pain in the back of his legs and fell to the ground, Azula held two fingers to his temple and mocked him, "Submit."

"Never, I will kill the avatar."

He felt the tips of her nails get warmer and realized that his life was in danger, "Are you sure father?"

"Hmm," Ozai thought for a moment, feeling the heat near his head. He saw the avatar rise and saw him exhale and then fall again, passed out from exhaustion. He missed his chance, "I submit."

Azula pulled her hand away and released he father, but eyed him cautiously, "I thought so, I'll be taking the avatar with me."

Ozai looked at her and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, he had been beaten by his own daughter. He would not forget this.

As Azula was walking off with Aang over her shoulder she heard a small thank you from him and she allowed a gentle smile.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

An anonymous cloud rolled onto the shore of the fire nation that seemed to whisper a bit.

The cloud dropped and Appa emerged, "You guys really need to learn to keep quiet while we're doing that," Sokka hopped off and slumped next to a rock.

"Yea yea, clouds don't talk we know," Toph followed and handed Sokka his bag.

The rest of the gang took their time and got settled for the morning, Sokka dug through his bag and pulled out a map, "Ok we can rest a for a minute but in a few hours we'll need to be on the move again, preferably at noon."

"Why, do we have to wait until then?" Katara took a bite from an apple.

"During the day, the fire nation has guards posted here, here, and here." He pointed to the three entrances of the city capitol."

Suki looked confused, "How do you know that."

"Zuko told me. Him being the prince I figured he would know the security arrangement."

Zuko looked up from his dull mood, "It was a long time ago, they could have changed the posts."

"Well, I'm going by what we have. It's not like we have anything else to use."

Satou finally spoke, "I've spent my fair share in fire nation cities like this one, and guards will be posted everywhere, but the civilians will be there to help us blend in."

"Good then we should have a good chance of sneaking in and finding Aang."

Zuko stood up, "Oh I can tell you where Aang is, Aang will be kept in the fire nation dungeon beneath the palace in the middle of the city. I f he's not there then he is being personally guarded by my father or my sister."

Sokka put his hand to his chin, "Hmm, I suppose there's no way we can be sure. Aang and Azula spent a lot of time together when we were on the island so maybe she'll keep Aang in her room."

"How did you come to that?" Chit-Zang cut in the conversation, he had been sitting in silence for a moment think about why he with this group of kids.

"Well, Aang can be rather persuasive and he was trying to Azula to change sides, so I figure that he grew a soft spot for her, and she might have done the same."

"My sister is remorseless and has no emotions; all she cares about is power and dominance. She probably played Aang into this and had a plan from the beginning."

Katara responded with a soft tone, "You speak so harshly about her, she may be evil but she is your sister."

"You don't know her like I do; she wouldn't pass up the opportunity to make someone feel embarrassed or unworthy. She likes to have others fear her presence. She is insane, and if you're not worried about her then you are too."

Sokka looked to Zuko, "Do you know where Azula's room might be?"

"Yes, it's right next to my old room, at least it was last time I was there."

"We're going to check there first no matter what anyone thinks about it, and my instincts are telling me that Aang is there."

Wu spoke softly obviously exhausted from the trip, "Well we know what we have to do and where to go, so can we get some sleep now?"

Toph looked in Wu's direction, "I know what you need, a good back massage."

"If you're talking about stones beating my back them you're out of your mind."

Toph giggled and made an earth tent that she laid down in.

Sokka put his map back in his bag, "We probably should get some rest, if we're going into the palace then the fire lord will be there and really only Aang could beat him."

The gang followed Toph's lead but instead of earth tents they got their sleeping bags off Appa's saddle and Sokka led Appa into a black cave before he laid down to get his needed rest. He looked up at the volcano before he put his sleeping bag down, and thought about what he was about to do. He also looked to Ty Lee and Mai and wondered where their allegiances would lie when the time came.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Azula sat Aang down in the corner of her bedroom; he was still exhausted and breathing heavily. He didn't have the energy to stand yet so he sat in the exact position he was placed.

"Thanks," was all he the energy to say, he looked at her and then relaxed his neck and let his head fall on his shoulder.

Azula looked at him and thought about what she had just done, she stood up against her father, the one who had controlled her all this time. The only person she wished to please, but why did she do it so the avatar could live. Was it what he said to her? Or was it something else? Would she do it again if she had too? Azula thought on this and sat on her crossed her legs and stared at the avatar. He was definitely attractive, and he had been in the same position before she was just a moment ago. He had the chance to kill her father. It was an honorable thing not too, but it also meant that Aang had more power than her father did. She knew that he was better than she was or he wouldn't have captured her. She looked at arms, his chest, and face; admiring his physical features as she sat. Then she thought about her father, how would he react to what she had done? Would he be mad? Or would he let it go? Surely father wouldn't be so foolish as to forget about what just happened. She would stand against him again if she needed to, she liked it anyways. It gave her a new sense of pride and power. But she still had one question to answer, why would she do it for the avatar?

She saw Aang open his eyes and sat staring at him, "Could you get me some water," his voice was scratchy.

Azula got up and went into the kitchen of her rooms, she got a cup and water. "Here," She casually handed him the glass of water and sat back down on her bed.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"I saw an opportunity and I took it, I was greedy," she sounded somewhat proud but now she was worried about why she resisted her father in order to protect the avatar.

He looked at the glass and sat in silence, he was too tired to think rationally so he decided not to speak.

"What did you do to me?" Her voice slightly more intimidating

He looked at her with the most confused expression possible, "What do you mean?"

"I just stood up to my father for you; I would have never done that before you took me to Ember Island. So what did you do to me?"

He was shocked, "I didn't do anything to you Azula. What you did was your own decision."

"No, you did something and I want to know what."

"You were being protective, it's an emotion that lets you know you care about someone."

Emotion and Caring? She was turning into a new person? "Hmmm, and why would I care about you? It was my sole purpose to hunt you down."

"You just answered your own question, when someone shows you that you can be better and do more than you already have. They go through a metamorphosis and begin to change."

"Hmmm, so I would protect you from my father?"

Aang nodded and there was a long silence.

"Would you protect me?" Azula's voice was actually sincere with the words that came from her mouth.

Aang had a regained some for his strength so he stood up for what he was about to say, "Azula, I saved you from getting killed by a blockade and stopped my friends from trying to kill you in your sleep. I have already protected you, and I would do it again."

Aang let the words sink in, and after a while Azula smiled.

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, this chapter has an emotional twist in it so I hope that helps. Please don't forget to review.**


	9. Chapter 9

Zuko was the first to wake up, "Guys, we overslept it's almost noon."

Nobody moved a muscle.

"Guys?" He asked one more time, before yelling, "Guys!"

Everybody jerked up, looked around in confusion, and then stared at Zuko. Zuko pointed at where the sun was and everybody started to get up and stretch.

Sokka was the first to have his things ready for the climb up the volcano, "There shouldn't be many guards in the city so we should be able to sneak in and find some clothes."

"But how are going to get past the guards at the entrance?" Toph asked.

"I'll think of something."

"Satou, what are you doing?" Wu walked over him finding him writing on small pieces of paper.

"Don't worry about it, give them to the others. We'll need them once we get to the top of that volcano."

"How do you know that?"

"Like I said, I've spent a lot of time in fire nation cities, and most of them like for their residents to have passports or as they like to call them, 'huzhao'."

"Ok," Wu went around handing the slips of paper to the others as Zuko started to walk over to Satou.

Zuko saw Satou pause and look at the ground, he knew the feeling of sorrow and pain, "So what's your story?"

"What do you mean?"

"We all have our stories to tell, about how we left home or got forced away," Zuko sat beside him looking at his work.

"Well I had I pretty good life at home, my family was wealthy and we were safe from the war. We were happy, it seemed like nothing could touch us."

"It sounds too good to be true."

Satou bent his head over looking at his feet, "Well it was true for a time, but then my mom heard a knock on the door and soldiers told her that I was getting put in the military. They said I had one day to pack up and get ready for the trip. When they came back to get me, we weren't there. We ran so I wouldn't have to go, of course we were hunted down and they considered it to be disloyal."

Zuko cut in, "Treason."

"Yeah, they took me by the arms and held my eyes open. They made me watch as they killed her. I tried not cry, but it got to me. When I did, all the soldiers did was laugh, they just laughed at my misery. That was the day I found out that fire nation soldiers didn't have hearts. It made me so mad that the restraints just popped of my arms and feet. I killed all of them in the rage, and then I took refuge with Chit-Zang until I was found again."

"I know how you feel," Zuko sighed.

This made Satou a little defensive, "How would you know what it feels like? Your mother was the princess of the Fire Nation, you only lost her when you left and joined us and you probably had plenty of time to tell about what you planned."

"No, my mother was banished when I was just a child. She protected me from a death sentence."

"What happened?" Satou said suddenly sincere.

"My uncle Iroh, Dragon of the West, was the fire lord's first born son. It meant that he was first in line to receive the throne. When he laid siege to the walls of Ba Sing Se his son died, and he stopped his attack and returned home. My father hearing about tried to make a positive from a negative. He asked his father if he could be the fire lord and talked about his family line was still ongoing while Iroh's had just been ended. My grandfather was enraged, he said as punishment that he would have to kill his first born son, me."

"And your mother protected you from that."

"Yes, she accepted banishment so I could live. All I got as a goodbye was a kiss in the middle of the night before she disappeared. Soon after that, my grandfather died and Ozai was crowned fire lord."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Like I said, we all have our stories. I'm sorry about your mother," Zuko got and walked over to his things and then over to Sokka.

"Zuko, are you ready to go."

"Yeah, I'm ready," Zuko's voce was dull from talking about his mother.

"Tell everybody to we're about to go; I've got to get Appa a place to hide for a while."

Zuko nodded and told everybody what to do. By the time Sokka was back everybody was ready to get up the volcano, so Sokka lead the way.

When the gang got to the entrance of the city, 5 guards were posted outside the gates.

Sokka turned to the others, "Ok, anybody got any ideas on how to get past them."

"Yea," Satou proclaimed, "Everybody take one of these and give them to him when I do," He handed out the slips of paper he had written on."

"These are passports," Zuko looked at him.

"Yea, we'll need them before we can get in," Satou took the lead.

Zuko turned to Mai and Ty Lee, "Put you hoods on and cover you faces."

Two guards stepped forward, "State your business and be quick."

"Tourists from the colonies visiting our homeland," Satou made a gesture indicating the rest of the group.

"Why are they wearing clothes form the Water Tribe and Earth Nation?"

"Like I said we are tourists, and these clothes helped us to blend into the society and go unnoticed as fire nation citizens."

"Then why aren't they wearing Fire Nation attire now?"

"We lost some of our clothes in a storm that hit while we were sailing here from the colonies."

"Hmm, who are they," The guard pointed to three people with shrouds over their heads.

"They are just like me, except they have scars on their faces and are extremely embarrassed by them."

"What caused the scars?"

"Firebenders."

"Why would a firebender harm another citizen?"

"It was their parents, it was discipline."

The guard smirked upon hearing this, "Where are your passports?"

Satou handed him the paper and looked to the others with bulging eyes trying to tell them to follow suit. After the guards confirmed the passports and burned the corner and gave them back, they were allowed into the city.

Katara came up to Satou, "How did you know they would let us in the city if the scar was from discipline."

"They only asked to hear about how they suffered, the fire nation soldiers don't have hearts; they are cold and rotten at their core."

Katara slowed down and began to feel sad for Satou; she could tell that he was talking about something from his past.

Sokka turned around, "Alright, so where are we gonna stay?"

Ty Lee spoke up, "We could stay at my family's house here?"

"Don't you think…"

"It's abandoned."

Ooooooooooooooooo

"Here, this is lunch," Azula sat a tray of komodo chicken beside him.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Aang pushed the tray aside.

"You don't like food? You know I didn't have to bring it to you, let alone make it such high quality."

"I'm a vegetarian; the monks once told me that all life is sacred."

"Hmm, guards have the chef prepare ash bananas and ocean kumquats for the avatar."

"Yes Princess," the guard bowed before exiting.

Azula looked at Aang, and saw that he indicated no fear; this was unusual because almost everyone she knew feared her. Now even her own father was wary of her power.

"How are you so calm?" Azula questioned.

"I meditate a lot," Aang simply shrugged

"That's not what I mean, usually my subjects show fear in their hearts and you are showing none hint of it, so why are you not fearful."

"Well, I find that you must find peace in the world to truly understand everything. You have to see what can become and not what became. Here I don't show fear because I am protected and I don't see a reason to worry."

"Why do you put so much trust in me, what if I were to betray you?" Azula looked at Aang with questioning eyes.

He quickly responded, "Well, I don't know if you will, but as of now you haven't."

"Hmm, optimism will get you killed avatar."

"It hasn't yet, and what could hurt about seeing the good come from every situation."

"It gives you hope."

"Hope isn't a bad thing," Aang explained

"Hope can be easily crushed like the city of Ba Sing Sa on the day of Sozin's comet."

"Hope can't be removed; it can only be moved and reborn into different forms. Hope will always exist no matter how hard someone tries to take it away."

"Not everyone has hope to look to," Azula leaned back on the red sheets of her bed.

"Actually almost everyone does, like your father. He hopes that I don't become and problem and he hopes that you give me to him."

"Well, then what do you hope for?"

"I hope that my friends are safe, that I can get out of here, and that you will follow me when I do."

The only thing that separated the silence was a knock on the door and a guard's voice," The avatar's meal is ready."

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

The house had three wings with two bathrooms, one kitchen, and a main hall. At the center of the house was an outdoor area that was sizeable to train, there was also a private garden with crops ripening near the training area that they could use to grow vegetables instead of having to go down to the market and buy them.

"Ok, it's been a while since I was here but there should be enough rooms for everybody to have their own," Ty Lee explained to the group.

"I don't think we're going to be here very long," Toph spoke up "So why don't we just sleep in a room and keep our things packed?"

"Why wouldn't we be here long?"

"We're here for the sole reason of trying to get Aang back, not to live here while the fire nation controls the world."

Sokka cut in, "Well think about it, this place was abandoned and we hid in the fire lord's own house right. So why couldn't we hide right under his nose here in the capitol?"

Mai spoke, "Because as soon as we do get Aang back fire nation soldiers will be all over the capitol trying to find him."

"I don't think they'd search in the actual Fire Nation capitol, and we're pretty close to the palace as it is, so I don't think they would have search parties scanning that close to the palace."

"Why not?" Toph asked.

"Secrets the Fire Lord has that he doesn't want the public to know about."

Ty Lee clapped her hands together, "So yeah, everybody just pick a room and we can all come back down here once we get unpacked."

They scattered and chose their rooms somewhat quickly. Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph had their on the northern wing of the house. Wu, Satou, and Chit-Zang were upstairs, and Zuko, Ty Lee, and Mai were on the Western wing of the luxurious home. Once the group unpacked they came back in to hall and sat where nothing was said.

Wu decided to break the silence by demonstrating something, he whispered something into Satou's ear and then into Chit-Zang's. They both nodded and stood up.

"Hey, you guys wanna see a cool trick?" Wu asked.

"What is it?" Zuko looked at him with amber eyes.

"You got a knife?"

Zuko took out the knife is uncle gave him and handed it to Wu.

"Alright you guys ready?"

The gang quickly huddled around Wu and waited.

Wu spread his fingers apart and starting the stabbing at the spaces between them, "Oh, I have all my fingers, the knife goes chop, chop, chop."

While Wu was doing this, Katara was hiding behind her hands like Ty Lee and Suki for fear of the worst. Sokka, Aang and Toph were looking on with amazement, while Chit-Zang and Satou were dancing to the words. Mai and Zuko were acting talking silently to each other acting as if the scene before them didn't exist.

"If I miss the spaces in between my fingers will come off, and if I hit my fingers; blood will soon come out, but all the same I play this game because that's what it's ll about. Oh chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, I'm picking up the speed."

As Wu got faster the girls began to say "No" and Stop" but Wu didn't listen. Sokka eyes just got wider and Satou danced faster.

"And if I hit my fingers then my hand will start to bleed," Wu raised his hand and felt a quick jab in his side before he saw his arm go limp. Suki and Katara let go of the breath they were holding while the others awkwardly clapped.

Wu looked at her, "Well what was that for?"

"I didn't want you to hurt yourself."

He let out a small laugh, "I was done."

"Oh," Ty Lee giggled.

Katara stood up, "I think we need to get some rest," She looked out of a window facing the fire nation palace

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Darkness had taken over the room; He could only hear the sound of a constant breath. He couldn't sleep, so he just waited and listened with his eyes open. He looked around but his eyes could not see past the curtain of black. Suddenly the wood floor beneath him creaked and it put it him alert. He glanced at the darkness again and heard a voice whispering, it sounded like the voice was near his ear. He heard the sound of slight sizzle so he lit the lamps in the room and assumed a stance.

A recognizable and sly voice broke the silence behind him, "So you had your back turned to me. Why?"

He quickly turned around to face Azula, "I thought I heard something."

"You did. It was me making the sounds; I wanted to see your reaction."

Aang just relaxed his stance and looked toward the ground in a solemn manner.

"Look I get, you were protecting me, but you don't have to worry about me. I'm the biggest threat here."

He looked back at her, "No matter what you think of yourself, your not a threat."

Azula brought her finger to her chin and gave Aang a sly glare, "Hmm, tell me this then. Who do you see as a threat?"

"The only person I can't keep anybody safe from is myself."

He received a confused look.

"When I go into the avatar state, I can't control my actions, it's the actions of my past lives that have no connection to the people I love."

"Well then you need to make a critical decision."

She recievd the same look that she had just given him.

"Who would you save, me or one of your friends."

"I would try to save anybody I could."

"You avoided the question, let more get a little mreo specific, would you save me or the water tribe peas… girl?"

Aang shrugged off the insult to his friend and thought about her question before answering, "To be honest I don't know."

Azula failed to hold back part of a laugh, "I thought you loved that girl? Why wouldn't you save her?"

"Well I did love her, but there are different types of love. What we felt was maternal love but there can be so much more like romantic love."

"Well then tell me about that."

"Romantic love is a strong emotion, so strong that it cannot be forced upon someone. It is the will to be with someone for eternity even in a life beyond this one. The feeling of love will overtake anyone and force them to bend to its command. It will make a person crazy and senseless, but it can also make them determined and undeterred. Love is in its self, is another person that takes over when will lets it."

Azula was somewhat fazed from the speech and Aang could see it.

She regained her focus, "Well how do you know that you weren't in love with her?" She was searching for something within him, but she didn't know what.

"To know that in love with someone, you'll feel invincible with them, like nothing in the world can touch you. You feel happy when you are with them. When people talk about a warm feeling inside themselves, its love in one fashion or another making itself known. In fact, fire benders burn hot not because of their natural element, but because of the passion that burns inside them."

That was it, and then something came over her. Something she couldn't control. She opened her eyes and found her lips on the avatar's.

She kissed him.

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, I know this took a while, but this was a rather difficult chapter. Please review guys, and thanks to both sablefalls and LavenderHillLove for the help you guys have been giving me.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Does everyone know the plan?"

Toph replied, "Sokka I think we got it," She pounded her fists together, "Not let's go get Twinkletoes."

Suki stood next to Sokka grabbing his arm with her hand, "It wouldn't hurt to go over it one more time."

Katara came into the room, "Just to be safe, let's hear it one more time."

Sokka pulled out a map of the fire nation palace he managed to find in his room, he pointed to locations on the map while he spoke, "Alright, Zuko, Chit-Zang, and Satou will create a distraction over here. You have to get as many guards over to you as possible in order for this to work. Wu you get their backs when they start to get surrounded but stay hidden until then. Katara, Toph, Suki and I are storming the palace and heading straight for the royal quarters. Ty lee and Mai are going to the dungeons to search for Aang there. Satou you wait outside the palace and cover our escape when we find him"

Everyone could tell that both Wu and Satou were anxious which their twitching and inability to sit still.

Wu then spoke with a fast tone, "Alright sounds good let's go."

Zuko glared at him, "Sit down, we're not going until midnight."

Katara again motherly quickly asked, "Why can't we go now?"

Sokka answered for him, "Less guards."

Toph jumped up, "So what, we can take em"

"Well the only way we have a chance is with Yue's help and the only way she can give us the chance is when the moon is at its highest point."

Ty Lee cut in, "Who's she?"

"I'd rather not get into that now, I'll tell you about it later but now we have to get ready. She said she'd help us and she will, I just don't know what she's going to do.

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

She quickly pulled away, why did it happen? How did it happen?

He looked at her with confusion and raised his eyebrows, "Well that was unexpected."

She just looked at the wall in front of her, thinking, wondering why. She just exposed herself to him, and she is not one to do that. How did it happen?

He could see the confusion in her eyes as well, "Was it spontaneous? Or did you do that?"

Her voice was not dignified as it usually was, it sounded rather fragile as she looked him the eyes, "It just happened, I don't know how or why but it did."

Seeing the change in her usual tone, he thought to help her, "You're suppressing emotion, that's not a good thing for your spirit. Close your eyes and think about something you did recently."

She thought and sat silent for a moment, not moving a muscle in her fire nation night gown. She peeked and eye and saw Aang meditating on the floor with her. Very quickly after opening her eye; he shook his head, she quickly closed her eyes again.

He spoke slowly, "How did you feel in a time before you met the circumstance that caused it?"

She took a minute and let out a good exhale before speaking, "Proud and full of Pride, but that blinded me from the deception of my father."

He nodded, "How did you feel when you actually faced your cause for the event?"

She was quick to answer, "I felt as if my life's goal was achieved, that all I needed was to finish one more thing and I would be satisfied with myself and serve a purpose to the one I sought the approval of."

"And how about just before what you're thinking about happened?"

"I felt lied to and betrayed that I could only trust myself to do anything. The something convinced me of something better and I felt different, the feeling was foreign to me."

He then recognized what she that she was think about the kiss and that she labeled him the reason for it, " And what about now?"

"Understood by someone that knows many things, I feel something different circling me. It's rather foreign to anything I've felt before. I can't really describe it, but it's actually made calmer than usual. Even with my father plotting against the Northern Water Tribe, I feel relaxed."

"Now do you feel you know why it happened?"

It felt like it was the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't find the words to use.

He broke her train of thought, "Well, never mind about it then. I would actually like to get off the subject."

She looked quite confused, "But just a minute ago you were trying to help find a reason to why that happened."

He sighed really to buy himself time to think, "Well I like to help people. Whatever, what happened happened and I'd like to stop talking about it."

She brought a finger to her chin, "Hmm, I have an idea. Wait here."

He heard Azula say something to the guards and then returned to him.

"We're going to spar, hand to hand combat only. No bending."

"In here?"

"If you're as good as I've heard then you won't break anything."

"Are you sure about this?"

She grinned, "Positive."

He brought his hands in front of him, "Your move."

She ran and slid between his legs hitting his legs but failing to strike a nerve point. He turned to face her and had to quickly dodge another flying fist. Once he recovered he closer for an easier takedown. He punched and kicked but his legs were a bit numb so it was sloppy. She avoided every attempt to hit her. She exhausted him so when he went for his takedown, she grabbed his arm and twisted it. He instantly fell to his knees. She pushed down on his arm so that he lay on his stomach. He glanced at her and the look of glee. He twisted his body onto his side then kicked at her ankle. She let go of his arm out of shock and fell to the floor. He then put her into a cradle hold so she couldn't move. She groaned and put numerous elbows into his chest. He dropped her after coughing. She forced a fist forward and he quickly countered with a swipe of his arm, which swung her body around letting her back face him. He grinned and took a few steps toward her. She swept her feet and knocked him down, she quickly fell on top of him to pin him to the floor.

She shook her head, "Too easy."

With that having been mentioned he grabbed wrists, crossed them, and pushed up so that they were both standing; when she was looking he smirked before throwing her on the bed. After she hit the bed she tried to recover but he was fast, he pinned her down.

He saw the look of shock in her eyes, "I wouldn't count myself out yet."

They were both could feel each other's hearts beating, she reached up to feel his. He didn't know what she was doing until she did it. He looked at her, her hair was tousled but still gleamed in the moonlight, he looked into her eyes. In her eyes he saw the moon. It shined brightly off the amber in them. They looked at each other and then he kissed her. She didn't refuse so he leaned into her deepening it. She broke the kiss and started kissing down his neck. She tore off his clothes and in return he did the same to hers.

After a few minutes later they vanished beneath the sheets.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

They slowly approached the palace grounds, they hid behind some of the bushes in front of the gates.

Sokka whispered to the groups behind him, "Ok, now Zuko; take Chit-Zang and Satou and try to get the guards focused on you, but give us some time to get into position for our roles. Wu, take the high ground; toss a few boulders to take some of the heat off of them. If they get into trouble, head down and help them out. Ty Lee, Mai, you guys head up to the dungeon. Try to be sneaky about it, if Aang is there then we don't want the guards focused there. Katara, Toph, you're with Suki and me. We'll storm the palace, but we have to be sneaky."

Toph cut in, "Yeah, yeah, so we can get out easy." She pounded her fists together, "Now let's get some firebenders."

As everybody got into position, Zuko tried to find where Wu was going to be so he could give him a good line of sight.

Chit-Zang hit Zuko on the shoulder, "Look, see the glare of his knife? He's right there." He pointed to a spot on a hillside next to the palace, he was under an arch; it gave plenty of earth.

Satou moved on his knees toward Zuko, "Look," He pointed out two more of the glares, "I think that means they're ready."

Zuko nodded, "Alright let's move."

He jumped from the bushes he was hiding behind and released a vicious fireball from his hands, leaving them a gaping hole to go through the gate. He rushed through with the others, as soon as they entered many of the sentry towers lined on the walls towering above them began attacking.

Zuko shouted to the others, "Attack the towers!"

One by one the towers began to catch a blaze, the screams coming from inside were horrifying, but there was nothing anybody could do. While they were busy fending off the attacks of the sentries, guards began to swarm from the palace. Their battle cry was cut short by falling rocks. The guards still persisted and each one was swept of their feet by the blazing fireballs being launched at them.

Zuko heard Chit-Zang scream and turned to see his burnt arm, "What happened?" His shout barely penetrated the sound of the battle.

"One of the sentries, I'll be fine just keep fighting."

Zuko turned to look at Satou; he was fighting hand to hand against a squad of the poorly trained soldiers. He looked in front of him to see bright orange flying toward him. He froze in shock; he only relaxed when a wall of earth shot up from the ground and looked back to Wu running towards them.

"Thanks."

Wu glanced at him briefly, "Don't mention it," was he had to say before blocking another fireball.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Sokka grabbed his machete, "Now, we need to go. They have the guards distracted."

Toph bent the metal door inward before forcing it from its hinges. Nobody had stayed in the main hall. The gang crept through palace, they moved up stairway after stairway without meeting any resistance.

Sokka scratched the top of his forehead, "It couldn't have worked that well."

"I don't feel anything for the next few floor except for a two heartbeat up two more floors."

Suki looked at Toph confused, "Two? That's where Azula's rooms are suppose to be. Aang's in there, but who's the other"

Katara tone grew a sense of hate, "Azula's in the room with Aang."

Sokka hit the side of the wall with his fist, "Ugh! I thought she go down to face Zuko."

Suki put her hand on his shoulder, "Look we can hold her off while you get Aang out, then Mai and Ty Lee can lead her away while we get him to the house."

They ran up two more flights of stairs, Sokka pulled his machete again, "Ready your weapons."

Toph put her hand to the wall, "Wait, somebody just came out of the room. The other is still in there."

They turned their attention to the figure that had just run up on them with weapons ready.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Could she really still be a soulless hunter? One is not easily swayed form the roots of their mind. Ozai had corrupted her, with his dreadful tasks. Even if she willfully carried them out; how could she know they were evil. By the time she figured it out; it would've felt too natural to change. She could be changed, but it would be easier said than done. Loud thunderous booms coming from outside, he gets out of the bed and put his robes back. Looking back he can see her, she moves but only slightly. Her head on her hand she looked so peaceful sitting there. The guards start shouting and she started to toss and turn at the noise. When the guards next to her rooms leave, Aang knows something is up.

The tone is cold but not as heartless and it was before, "They're here."

He looked at Azula looking through her window, she had gotten her gown back on very quickly, "Who?"

She turned to look at him, "Your friends, they're attacking the palace." She walked over to the door in the palace hallways, "You'll be leaving here shortly."

He could see her absence of mind, "You're not going to stop me?"

She looked at him, "What's the point and someone has to hold off m father, but know that I will find you again."

He looked at her intensely with dark gray eyes, "You won't have to. When this is over meet me at your family's house on Ember Island. I'll be the only one there." He dashed through the door and faded into the curtain of black.

She watched him leave, and then sighed, "Now, time to give Father a good morning visit."

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

"Aang!" Katara ran and hugged him tightly, he returned the embrace, "I thought we'd never see you again."

Aang looked at her then to Sokka, "We need to get out of here, now."

Toph grabbed the back of robes, "Not before you tell us why Azula let you go."

"How do you… Look, it's a long story. I'll tell if we get out of here."

Sokka lowered his weapon, "Ok, then we need to head down and try to relieve Zuko from the guards."

Suki stepped forward, "I'll get Ty Lee and Mai, we'll meet you back in the courtyard."

Sokka nodded, "Nobody leaves until we have everybody with us."

They made their way down the stairs and onto the courtyard. They met up with Zuko and the others.

Katara hurried over to Chit-Zang when she saw him holding his arm against his chest.

She tried to get Sokka's attention, "We need to leave."

Sokka looked around for the girls, but he couldn't see them anywhere, "We have to wait."

"If we wait, then we'll die."

He struggled to make a decision; he looked again and saw Suki leading Ty Lee, and Mai toward them.

Sokka got behind the group, "Ok, Zuko and Satou in the middle; Toph and Wu get on the outside and block any attacks. Zuko and Satou, give them something to be afraid of while Suki gets here."

Like a well-oiled machine the formation worked together, fending off every attack and retaliating to keep the guards from gaining any ground.

Sokka kneeled by his sister's side, "Get him to the house, we'll keep them off you."

"Aang! Start wiping them out, we need to get out of here!"

One at a time the soldiers fell to their knees. They could see to avoid the fire, but not an invisible element. It them like bricks when it struck. As the soldiers fell, they were replaced by more.

Aang turned to Sokka, "There are too many, we'll never be able to take them all."

Sokka groaned in frustration. He saw the red force grow bigger no matter how many were taken out. More would fill their place; He looked and saw Aang began to lose his ground. He was now back into a corner, blowing away attacks, but he was unable to hit back. The formation he ordered his friends into began to fall, Wu was knocked after a firebomb hit harder than he braced himself for. Toph could not defend them both, so she too began attacking. It didn't take long for them to be knocked down by the constant attacks. Saving Aang would not matter if they were all dead. The sound of rushing water faintly made itself known. Sokka turned to see a beautiful spirit flying toward them. It was not until she was close enough did he see the gigantic wave behind her.

"Everybody brace!" was all he could day before he was enclosed in an earth tent.

He heard the sound of the water crash around him, his tent barely held. When it passed over his tent disappeared.

Toph walked over to him, "You're welcome by the way."

"How did you know it was coming?"

"I felt it."

Sokka looked around to see his friends and the front of palace in rubble.

Aang and the others walked and limped over to him, "We need to leave before.."

As he was talking, a firebomb cratered the ground next to him, Aang turned around to see Ozai. He was drenched but unharmed.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?"

The gang did nothing but held defensive stances.

"Afraid to speak?" His expression showed rage, "then you will die in silence."

Ozai jumped and let out a huge fire whip in their direction. Before anybody could deflect it, a blue arch of fire cut it in two. They looked down to see Azula standing in front of them.

Ozai grinned and began to approach her, "Azula, you stopped me once before, but it shall not happen again."

"Really? I could have killed you, and this is how you show your thanks?"

"That was your mistake," He let a flurry of fire balls and whips, which Azula gracefully dodged.

Aang started over to help but Zuko grabbed his shirt, "Aang, we need to go. This is the best chance we'll get."

He groaned to show his frustration before following him back to their new hiding place. When they got to the house, Katara was waiting at the front door.

Katara looked at them and then back at the palace courtyard, "There still fighting over there. How did you guys get away?"

Sokka turned around, "I don't know, Aang you care to explain who let us get away?"

**Author's Note: I'm sorry it took so long, but this chapter is rather lengthy so I hope that makes up for it. Please don't forget to review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A special thanks to sablefalls for help with the first scene and throughout the chapter.**

Hisao walks with light steps into the Fire Lord's personal chambers and kneels before the imposing figure standing stoically at the window. "You summoned me, Your Highness?"

Ozai grunts but does not bother looking at the servant. "Assemble a team. There is an artifact hidden by Fire Lord Sozin at the South Pole." Ozai turns his head to stare the servant down. A dark red line stands out in livid relief along his jaw line. "Discretion is a must." Hisao tries but fails to not look at the scar. Absently Ozai touches his fingers to the burnt skin tracing the raised edges. The healers had only been able to do so much "My daughter saw fit to give me a gift as she helped the Avatar escape last night."

Quickly Hisao looks down, averting his eyes as is proper. "That is unfortunate, My Lord."

Ozai hums in thought as he returns his gaze out the window again, "No matter. I will deal with Azula personally when the time is right." In his peripheral he sees the servant's head jerk up and stare as if trying to decide if he is serious or not. "Go. I want the artifact recovered as quickly as possible."

Slowly Hisao rises and backs away from the Fire Lord.

"Wait." Ozai's voice stops him and Hisao looks up at the sharp golden eyes. "Send another summons; This time to the Burnt Souls."

Hisao swallows around the sudden lump in his throat. "My Lord, the Burnt Souls are…"

"Do not question me. I know what they are capable of. If you can't do this small task than perhaps I should find someone better suited."

Quickly, Hisao drops into a low bow on the floor. "Forgive me, Fire Lord Ozai. I spoke out of turn."

"Indeed." Ozai says in a low tone. "Be sure it does not happen again."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Okay, so we were about to fight Ozai and…" He paused in hesitation.

Blue eyes looked upon him with curiosity, "and what?"

Aang rubbed the back of his neck, "Azula distracted him while we got away."

Her voice expressed the shock within her, "Azula?"

Sokka cut in, "Yes, Azula."

Katara looked from her brother to Aang, "She wouldn't have helped; she hunted us down. Don't you remember that?"

"Yes, I do, but I've talking to her."

Katara's tone changed as if she had been offended, "Talking to her?"

"Yes. I've showed her who Ozai really was and what she was to him."

Zuko stepped out from the shadow he was lurking in, "My sister will lie to get what she wants Aang. She could have just played you."

Ty lee also budded in, "Well I saw what everybody else saw. Azula fought Ozai, and not us."

Aang looked into the eyes of his friends, "I think she can change."

Katara stood up for an approaching outburst, "How can you think that? She's evil! She nearly killed Zuko and not to mention she did kill you."

"Everyone deserves a second chance, and this is hers."

"Aang, I'm telling that she's it for her gain. She has to be planning something."

The gray in his eyes, grew darker, liking the clouds before a storm. "For what? What could she possibly again by going against her father. If anything she just threw away her chance of ruling the fire nation."

Sokka grabbed Aang's shoulder, "Calm down, what Katara is trying to say is that Azula might not have done it for us. She might be up to something. I mean maybe she didn't get her birthday pony and taking vengeance for that. My point is that we don't know why she did it."

The rest of the gang just sat and watched as the argument shifted sides, none of them dared to intervene. Mai was thinking about her encounter with Azula while she was in hiding; she seemed so hell bent on finding the Avatar and now Aang was defending her. She could have easily manipulated what he thought of her, and lied to lower Aang's guard.

His voice was calm but it was apparent that he was still frustrated, "what if she did it to help. What if you guys are all just pinning this on her for because of her past?"

Katara's voice only served to make Aang agitated, "It is because of her past Aang. She hunted us down; she captured King Bumi, who might be fine in the crystal catacombs now, but how much longer until they find him?"

Toph was sitting in a corner of the room, listening to them argue. She said nothing, she could tell that Aang was saying something, he wasn't lying, but he was saying everything. She remembered back at the palace how he just walked out of her room. His heartbeat was faster than normal. He wasn't panicked, he wasn't distressed, but he wasn't relaxed. There was definitely something off about him.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

They crawled in on all fours; swarming the room like angry fire ants. Their skin burnt from the fire they bend. Soon the floor disappeared beneath them; they climbed on the walls and some onto the ceiling. All looking down upon him. One in the front rose to speak.

His voice was raspy, "We are here due to your summons."

He looked at the horde before him, "I have a target that I need eliminated."

"You would have us do your dirty work?"

"I would, for he has escaped my wrath a thousand times over."

"We are not here to do a man's deed that he is fearful of completing himself."

"Fear? Need I remind you whom you are speaking to?" he made a motion with his hand in which the guards responded to by bending fiery daggers into clenched fists.

"I know exactly who I'm speaking to Fire Lord Ozai, son of Fire Lord Azulon and grandson of Fire Lord Sozin. Now you may have your feeble minded soldiers to lower their weapons before I decide to tell my brothers to kill them and you."

"You dare threaten your fire lord?"

"To us, you are just a man cowering above others as if you own them. To us, you could be just as easily crushed as any other man in this room. You fear the man you wish us to hunt."

All the Fire Lord could do was grunt.

"We do not serve you, nor do we serve anyone but ourselves."

Ozai stood up from his throne and the flames reacted by rising, "And yet you came under my command? I may be crushed easily but so can you. I know your weakness and I know it well. You can strike fear into the hearts of my men but you will not blind me. I know your stories; I know that some are just lies to spread your influence. You may not know that I control you but I do. I suggest that you be glad I'm willing to pay you for this target."

Their speaker said nothing and just looked at Ozai, he responded with a nod before through a sack of gold pieces on the floor."

"Now who is the man you want dealt with?"

Ozai looked straight into his eyes; his voice held no emotion, "The Avatar."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

He moved quietly so he wouldn't disturb anyone. Through the halls and down the stairs. Not a hair out of place he moved through the shadows. Past the kitchen and out the door. Admittedly he liked the darkness around him. Past the garden and to the gate. He went up to Appa sleeping under the tree. Appa awoke and grunted at his silhouette.

Aang rubbed his nose, "It's ok buddy, we're just gonna stretch our legs."

He floated up to the saddle and took the reins, "Yip yip."

Appa took to the skies; he flew low over the volcano's ridges to keep the patrolling guards from seeing them. He made it over water and approached the island. Fire Nation ships were scattered around and some were docked at the port. The fires kept them warm, not all of them were benders. He flew Appa around the shoreline to Ozai's beach house. He directed Appa to a spot where he could land. He floated off the saddle and slowly made his way up the path. The entrance was unguarded by soldiers. He walked to the door, but before he opened it, he heard a whistling sound. Quickly he turned to face an earth fist. Aang brought his hands up and the fist began to slow and morph into a rigged rock. When it came to a stop; he dropped it and watched closely. The tiny movement of the man's hands was all the Aang needed to know where he was. He quickly twisted his feet, the earth beneath him shifted and the ground beneath the cloaked man erected. The man lost his footing and fell to the ground; Aang was quick about getting over to him. He recognized the man as a Dai-li agent. He simply walked away from him toward the house again.

He walked through the door and was greeted with a familiar voice, "I was surprised you didn't see him before you got closer."

He saw the outline of Azula before him, "I wasn't expecting him to be there."

"No matter, shall we be going?"

He let out a shallow sigh, "Not just yet, there's something we need to talk about."

She moved her hands onto her hips, "Like what?"

He moved closer to her, "About what happened at the palace before I left."

"We can talk about it later."

"If you put it off now, then you will keep putting it off. We need to do this while we have some time to ourselves."

"Alright," She leaned on the wall next to her, "let's talk."

"Where do your allegiances lie?"

"I'm her, I don't understand how I could be working with anybody else."

"You had a Dai-li agent watching the house."

She let out a heavy sigh, "It was for protection, I turned on my father. Besides, I thought it was clear what side I was on when we slept together."

"You've pulled schemes before."

"You showed me a light I didn't see. I ignored many things in order to impress my father. You gave me an alternative life, it feels somewhat renewing."

"I'm about to put my trust in you, and I need to know you won't betray it."

Trust was something foreign to Azula; she hasn't trusted anyone in her life until recently. She has put her trust in Aang without knowing it, "You have my word."

Aang gave her a silent nod.

"Fair warning though, I did turn on the only person who cared about me."

"Ozai?"

"No, Zuzu cared about me and I chose to ignore it."

"Yeah, well he's not the only one."

Aang walked off as Azula was left to wonder about what that meant.

When he got to the door he turned to face her, "You comin' or not?"

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

They moved quickly, jumping on the roofs of the houses, lighting each one ablaze. One of the healers went house to house trying to evacuate everyone. She came to a house untouched by flame.

She saw a man sitting in a chair, seemingly waiting; "We have to go, now!"

He showed no emotion, he just stared at the door, "It's no use. They will find us, and kill us. They do not care for anything, not even themselves."

The worry in her voice obvious, "Look sir, we can talk later but now we have to go," the smell of burning wood and ash drew near.

"Stay or leave, we will die. They are relentless."

"Who?"

"They call themselves the burnt souls. They came from the deepest parts of the fire nation. They burned themselves and killed their parents when they were only kids."

The house began to burn.

"And now, they will kill us."

They crawled and climbed the trees to see what they had done. They felt no remorse, no joy. That was left behind a long time ago.

**Author's Note: Sorry it took a while but this something I do in my free time and that has been avoiding me lately.**


End file.
